2030 World Cup could have 64 teams as FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirms plans
FIFA president Gianni Infantino believes the newly expanded 2026 World Cup has been a success and is ready to entertain talks around the next edition having 64 nations
FIFA president Gianni Infantino admits they will consider further expanding the World Cup to become a 64-team tournament in 2030 - after declaring the 2026 edition a major triumph.
Gianni Infantino has said FIFA will examine expanding the World Cup by a further 16 nations to a 64-team tournament ahead of its next edition in 2030. The competition was expanded to a 48-team format for the first time this summer having previously had 32 teams from 1998 through to 2022.
The 2030 tournament will be spread across six nations and three continents - Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay are to host one match with the crux of the tournament split between Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
In September last year FIFA held discussions over expanding the tournament again for 2030 after receiving a formal pitch and Infantino confirmed talks would take place after this summer’s tournament.
The FIFA boss said in an interview with Swiss media outlet Bluewin: “It (a 64-team tournament) is definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup." Infantino went on to state that the World Cup is “for the whole world, not just Europe and South America”.
He also added: “Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high - and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino has claimed the current World Cup with 48 teams was “100 percent a success” despite opinions being divided. Some see the group stage as being devalued with certain games lacking quality whilst it was ultimately harder to get knocked out than to qualify for the knockouts.
A 64-team tournament would mean that more than a quarter of FIFA’s 210 men’s international teams compete and that could massively impact the perceived challenge of qualifying.
UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin spoke against the idea of a 64-team World Cup and said the proposal was a “bad idea”. His North American counterpart, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, holds a similar view, saying it was “not a great idea.”
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