Mark Chapman, the well-known presenter of “Match of the Day,” has openly criticized the new format for the upcoming World Cup, describing it in less-than-flattering terms.

The world is eagerly anticipating the draw for next summer’s World Cup, set to be held across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Scheduled for Friday, the draw will reveal the match-ups for 48 teams, including placeholders.

For the first time in the tournament’s storied history, the top four seeded nations—Spain, Argentina, France, and England—are guaranteed not to encounter each other until the semi-final stage.

FIFA justifies this new arrangement as a means to ensure a balanced distribution of teams across the tournament. As it stands, 42 teams have already secured their spots, with the remaining six to be determined through play-offs slated for next March.

Chapman, 52, did not hold back his thoughts on the revamped format during an episode of “The Sports Agents” podcast.

Engaging in conversation with Gabby Logan and journalist Adam Crafton, Chapman bluntly expressed, “I’ll jump in here—it’s a terrible idea. I’ll tell you why… because if you look back, and I know you might not remember, Adam…”

Mark Chapman lambasted the new World Cup format after expansion to 48 teams 

‘In 1982 there was the best group ever at a World Cup when they had a second stage group, they had Argentina, Brazil and Italy in the same group of three and they played each other in some of the best games the World Cup has seen.’

The veteran broadcaster has presented Match of the Day two since 2013 and replaced Gary Lineker as one of three lead presenters for Match of the Day at the start of this season, the others being Kelly Cates and Logan. 

Chapman will be among the lead broadcasters for the BBC’s coverage of the tournament and the broadcaster recently came under fire for plans not to send some pundits to the World Cup, instead having them cover games from Salford. 

While TV pundits will remain at Salford until the latter stages, commentators will be in the US for matches involving home nations and high-profile games. Commentary from other matches will be provided from the Corporation’s MediaCity base. 

The BBC declined to comment other than to say that World Cup plans are yet to be finalised.

The format for the tournament in Spain that Chapman felt nostalgic about changed after a complete overhaul of the structure and expansion to 24 teams.

As he mentioned, there were six groups of four, with the top two moving on to the second round, where they then split into four groups of three. The winners of each group advanced to the semi-finals. 

The 2026 World Cup format has been controversial, with some arguing that it unfairly favours the stronger teams. 

Harry Kane and Co go to the tournament next year as one of the favourites to win it 

Critics claim that the tournament was expanded by FIFA based on political and financial factors rather than sporting benefit. 

For the last 25 years, the competition has pitted the 32 best teams in the world against each other but the scope has now expanded and minnows such as the Faroe Islands, Curaçao, Cape Verde and Haiti all in the hat. 

The 2026 World Cup will get underway on Thursday, June 11 next year and the final is on July 19th. 

There are 12 groups of four teams and the winners and runners-up will then move forward to a round of 32. 

Those sides will also be joined by the eight best third place teams, meaning it would be a disaster for the top sides not to make it through. 

From there, the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final take place as usual. 

The draw takes place at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center at 5pm GMT on Friday. The three hosts are in Pot one along with the nine top teams in FIFA’s rankings. Pot two, three and four are then made up of the other sides decided by rank, with the lowest in Pot four.