I don’t follow soccer very much but from what I understand, the World Cup host nation gets a bye into the WC. With the WC hosted by two nations this year, did both of them get byes?
Yes. But FIFA has said they probably won’t let several nations host a cup together again.
The defending champion also got a bye into this year’s tournament (France), but FIFA said that will not be the case in the future.
It has turned out to be a disadvantage for that team not to get the experience of playing crucial, top-flight games. I would also think that the defending champ will draw well in qualifying, although most people will like to go see Brazil or Germany or England play anyway. (Just tossing out examples of who could win, not making any predictions.)