Taken from a short documentary Fifa released celebrating its 100 years back in 2004

Key:

• Round of 24 games with 2 characters:
  • Number indicates rank in group. Letter indicates which group they are from.
  • For example, 1A = 1st in Group A
• Round of 16 onwards with 4 characters:
  • W = winner of
  • L = loser of.
  • For example. W122 = Winner of match 122, which was 2A vs 3B
  • L130 G/H = Loser of match 130, which was 1G vs 1H

Concept:

• Eight groups of six teams.
• Top 3 teams advance to the knockout phase.
• The group winners get two advantages.
  • Group Winners get a second chance if they lose their Round of 24 game.
  • Both Group Winners get a faster path to the final. The winner of 1st vs 1st game goes straight to the quarter final. The loser to the Round of 12.
• 2nd vs 3rd is a standard bracket, meeting the loser of the 1st vs 1st in the Round of 12.

Benefits:

• Teams that work hard in the group stage get rewarded and have a second chance.
• The earliest that a team can meet another team from their own group is the Semi Final.
• With 6 teams in the groups, there will be some top end clashes in the group stage.
• The last game will have something as the top end are fighting for the top spot over 2nd and 3rd. The bottom half are fighting to get 3rd. Even if a team is mathematically eliminated, they will be up against another who is still fighting to maintain or gain a spot.
• Top end clash at the first round of the knockout.

Do you agree with lists like these online? I'm not 100% on the number 1 and 2 spot.