rewrite this title Ghana boss Queiroz fears World Cup will become ‘vulgar’ and ‘ordinary’

Carlos Queiroz is not impressed with the 48-team World Cup format, and he fears the competition will become devalued.

Queiroz’s Ghana team progressed to the knockout stage as one of the best third-place teams.

They went down 2-1 to Croatia on Saturday, but the four points they collected across their opening two Group L games – against Panama and England – were enough.

And though Ghana can celebrate making it out of their World Cup group for the third time in their history, Queiroz does not like the extended competition.

“I do believe that what really has huge value, huge and significant value, is [that which] is rare,” Queiroz said.

“I’ve never seen in my life common things, ordinary things that come with huge value.

The World Cup knockout rounds are now set.

But what are each team’s chances of progressing through each round?

Find out with the Opta supercomputer’s bracket: https://t.co/gNLqW2Xxty pic.twitter.com/qfsTKa6az6

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) June 28, 2026

“So, the number of teams that qualify for the World Cup, I am afraid that [it] can turn this competition [into a] vulgar, ordinary competition.

“With so many teams qualifying for the World Cup, I think the value of the competition [comes from it] being rare to be in the World Cup. It’s, in my opinion, still debatable. I need to see. It’s one opinion that is based on my personal feeling.

“In the game, money talks. This is called not football but moneyball. When money starts to talk, the decisions inside the pitch start to change. Let’s see in the future what will happen.”

The new format has seen more teams get a shot at the finals, and seven teams have managed to progress from their respective groups for the first time: South Africa, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Cape Verde, DR Congo and Canada.

Ghana will go up against Colombia in Kansas City in the next round. The winner will take on either Switzerland or Algeria.