The top four teams in Fifa’s world rankings have made the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time.
And the progress of Spain (1), Argentina (2), France (3) and England (4) was aided by a Fifa change for the 2026 World Cup.
They were put in separate quadrants of the draw so they could not meet before the semi-finals.
For that to happen they had to each win their groups – which they did.
The separation in the draw meant that Spain could not meet Argentina before the final.
Additionally, England and France were put in opposite sides of the knockouts and on a path to meet either Spain or Argentina in the semi-finals if they all progressed.
Fifa described the move as ensuring “competitive balance” by establishing “two separate pathways to the semi-finals”.
And now the semi-finals are France v Spain on Tuesday, and England v Argentina on Wednesday.
A similar approach happens at Wimbledon, and in the new Champions League format, at which seeds are kept apart in pairs.
Fifa rankings were introduced in 1994, but not used for that year’s tournament.
Belgium (2022), Germany (2018), Spain (2014), Italy (2010) and France (2002) were ranked in the top four and did not get out of the group.
At the remaining World Cups since 1998 – the top ranked teams did not all get through to the semi-finals.
Analysis – FIFA Was Transparent On This Move
When Fifa officials changed the draw process for this World Cup they did so with complete transparency.
World football’s governing body said it wanted to ensure the four top-ranked countries could not meet earlier in the knockout rounds, thus potentially saving blockbuster games for later in the tournament.
It was not really a problem before.
In a 32-team World Cup, group winners could not face each other in the last 16.
You must go back to 2010 to find two of the world’s top four meeting before the semi-finals, when the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
The 48-team World Cup, with an extra knockout round, made early meetings between group winners not only possible but almost certain.
It happened in three games in this summer’s last 16, with United States playing Belgium, England facing Mexico and Switzerland meeting Colombia.
So Fifa felt it had to make a tweak due to the expanded format for 2026.
Fifa wanted to prevent one of these matches being a glitz and glamour game, and thus guarantee losing a top-four team.
The same ranking system was used for the Club World Cup last year, though one of the four top seeds (Real Madrid) made it to the semi-finals.
This time, it has worked out as Fifa intended.
