We’re onto the World Cup quarterfinals, and the field is geographically concentrated. Five of the remaining eight teams hail from Europe. Four of those five hail from Western Europe. One of the other three is from the African country closest to Europe. The other two are from South America.
Does this always happen?
Here are the last ten World Cup quarterfinal fields, the quarterfinal fields for the ten World Cups with a 16-team knockout stage, broken down by continental federation. AFC is Asia. CAF is Africa. CONCACAF is North America. CONMEBOL is South America. OFC is Oceania. UEFA is Europe.
| World Cup | UEFA | CONMEBOL | CAF | CONCACAF | AFC | OFC |
| 2022 | 5 | 2 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 2018 | 6 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 2014 | 4 | 3 | – | 1 | – | – |
| 2010 | 3 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 2006 | 6 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 2002 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – |
| 1998 | 6 | 2 | – | – | – | – |
| 1994 | 7 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 1990 | 6 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – |
| 1986 | 5 | 2 | – | 1 | – | – |
Answer: Yes. This always happens. 2002 was the only World Cup in this format where we didn’t see at least seven teams from South America and Europe combined.
Maybe this is obvious to those of you who follow soccer more closely than I, but it catches me off guard. Why do UEFA and CONMEBOL only get to qualify half the teams in the World Cup if their teams are always going to be the best? I know the answer’s that you need some variety, but there’s unfairness there.
So, while I don’t want them to change World Cup qualifying or anything, I want a World Series between the Euro winner and the Copa América winner. Three-game set, home-and-home-and-neutral. Feels like the only justifiable course of action.
