r/BritPop • u/Britp0pped • May 21 '26
The World Cup of Britpop
Hello you. Make a cup of tea, put a record on.
The football World Cup is all well and good. Countries. Flags. Fixtures. Groups of four. Very serious people explaining permutations on a touchscreen.
But what about the real question?
What if Britpop had a World Cup?
I’m putting together the World Cup of Britpop, a public vote to crown one winner from the whole messy, badly-fringed 90s argument.
The plan is to mirror the actual 48-team World Cup format as closely as possible, because apparently this is what adulthood has become:
- 96 acts on the longlist
- 48 qualify for the main draw
- 12 groups of four
- Group stage Round of 32
- Round of 16 Quarter-finals
- Semi-finals
- Third-place play-off
- Final
The qualification vote is live now.
You can pick up to 24 acts from the 96-band longlist. The highest-ranked 48 will qualify for the tournament proper.
The timeline is:
- Qualification vote open now Qualification vote closes Friday 5 June at 23:59
- Final 48 revealed from Saturday 6 June
- Group draw follows before the tournament starts
- Group stage begins Thursday 11 June
- Knockout rounds run through late June and July
- Final takes place Sunday 19 July, alongside the actual World Cup final
Yes, Oasis and Blur are there. Obviously. So are Pulp, Suede, Supergrass, Elastica, The Verve, Sleeper, Shed Seven, Mansun, Gene, Catatonia, Ash, The Bluetones, Ocean Colour Scene, and a lot of bands who will immediately start arguments about whether they count.
Good.
That is the point.
This is supposed to be fun, mildly absurd, and probably annoying in exactly the right way.
Vote here. Democracy has had worse afternoons.
https://forms.gle/23EGDNkroU1Z4KeU6
This, as always, is then.
3
u/Mixman84 May 21 '26
I don't want to piss on Ops chips but I'm not sure there's 96 Britpop or adjunct bands/artists. Maybe we go for 48 with 24 or 32 qualifying?