"FIFA" opens the door to expanding participation in the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has expressed openness to the idea of increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup finals to 64 teams, considering that the proposal deserves study after the current edition of the tournament concludes. He emphasized that the goal is to give a larger number of teams the opportunity to compete in the biggest football event in the world.
Infantino stated in remarks reported by the Swiss website "Blue Sport" that "the whole world should dream of the World Cup, not just Europe and South America." He added that expanding the tournament to 48 teams in the 2026 edition was a "great success," and that the level of teams across different continents continues to develop, which, in his opinion, strengthens the justifications for expanding participation.
The 2026 edition will be held for the first time with 48 teams participating, after the number remained stable at 32 teams since the 1998 World Cup in France. This expansion has increased the number of matches in the tournament to 104, while the number will reach 128 matches if the 64-team system is adopted, with a return to the direct qualification of the top two teams from each group to the knockout stages, and the cancellation of the best third-placed teams system.
Infantino's position comes months after an official proposal made by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), which called for expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, coinciding with the celebration of the centenary of the tournament's inception. The next edition will be held in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, with Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay hosting the opening matches.
Earlier, the proposal sparked division within continental federations, as UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin described the idea as "bad" for both the tournament and its qualifying matches. Meanwhile, the President of the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF), Victor Montagliani, stated that further expansion could harm the football system, while the President of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, warned that increasing the number of teams could lead to "organizational chaos."