Whatever you might think of Sepp Blatter or FIFA, its flagship tournament still captures the imagination like no other - even the Olympics, in my book.
It definitely held a stranglehold on our attentions on Team 33, when we initially started out as a World Cup show.
The tournament is not perfect, but the way it is currently structured works quite well.
Yet FIFA Presidential candidate, Luis Figo, wants to mess with that.
The former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Portugal winger launched his manifesto yesterday, and one of the main points in it was the expansion of the World Cup, with the potential for a 48-team tournament.
It seems to be a means of attracting votes from Blatter strongholds in Africa, Asia and beyond. But there are plenty of reasons why that is not the best idea.
Firstly, for major tournaments, 16 or 32 is the perfect number and requires very little mental mathematics to decide which teams progress to the knockout stages.
With 32 teams, the World Cup easily divides itself into eight groups of four and can be played out in the space of a month.
Luis Figo
It also provides enough space for a decent spread of participating nations from across the globe.
Figo says the extra spots in a 40-team or 48-team tournament would be reserved for non-European teams. At the last World Cup, Europe had 13 qualifiers, while South America also had six representatives.
Geographically, it is disproportionate. But if we are talking about elite level quality and records at World Cup finals, you could even argue that Europe and South America should have more places than they currently have.
Let's take Africa first. Watching the recent Nations Cup, it had an exciting denouement thanks to the drama of penalty shootouts. But the overall level of play was quite ordinary.
On the world stage as well, the continent has only made a sporadic impact, with Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010), the only teams to reach the quarter-finals. Usually, one team makes it to the knockout stages, although 2014 had a high of two as Nigeria and Algeria reached the last-16.
Also in the lead up to the World Cup, one Team 33 interviewee made an interesting point. Ghana-based former Manchester United scout Tom Vernon told us that there are still issues with developing the next generation of talent, saying that "there isn't a huge amount of talent coming out of the tournament at the moment".
You can listen to the pre-World Cup interview with Vernon via the podcast player below:
That is a concern for the future if the continent wants to make a more indelible mark on the global stage.
Asia has also not fared that well, although South Korea, Japan and Australia have all reached the knockout stages in recent tournaments.
And while keeping an eye on the AFC Asian Cup for Team 33 with our contributors Jae-Hyeok Lee (South Korea) and Neil Sherwin (Australia), I noted plenty of moments of excitement. But the last World Cup in Brazil saw all three AFC sides knocked out in the group stage, with a talented Japan side the biggest disappointment.
Just like the European Championships which will see their previously high level of quality diluted by the expansion to 24-teams, the same thing would happen to the World Cup if teams are drafted in from confederations where the level of play is still limited.
As much as candidates may feel need to curry favour with certain voter blocs, they must be careful not to trample over any of the world game's more positive things in their haste to oust Blatter.
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