Fifa officials will look at the possibility of expanding the World Cup by another 16 teams before the 2030 event, according to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who said growing the tournament from 48 to 64 teams could make sense.
“That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” he said. “When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America – but effectively the entire world.
“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.”
The World Cup field was 32 teams from 1998 to 2022 and was expanded to 48 for the current tournament, increasing the total number of matches to 104.
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Infantino said he considered the 48-team set-up a “huge success”, adding: “Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point. Nine out of 10 African teams reached the knockout stage. At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The 2030 tournament will be a multi-continent effort. The first three matches are scheduled to be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, with the remaining games to be staged in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
An expansion to 64 teams could mean the South American nations could each host a four-team group, rather than just one match.
World Cup Wallchart
