This World Cup will be participated by 36 countries from the previous 32 participants in the final round. This opens up opportunities for several countries to be able to taste their first World Cup. One that I follow is Asia. Asia will get more slots than usual, 8 countries + half that must go through the playoffs first. With this new format, of course several countries have very high motivation to be able to be in the 2026 World Cup. Asia itself is undergoing the 3rd qualifying round and still has several more matches left.
We will have 48 countries not 36 with Asian quota is now 8 countries direct and 1 going to the inter-confederation playoffs in hopes of making the tournament.
Increasing countries are surely going to have good beneficial for FIFA as well because now with this we will be having significant increase in viewers and more money for them and also for all countries those are looking for development in soccer.