Fifa has dismissed suggestions that the men's World Cup will be expanded to 64 teams for the centenary tournament in 2030, despite a meeting between its president, Gianni Infantino, and South American leaders in New York. The meeting, held at Fifa's offices in Trump Tower on Tuesday, included the presidents of Uruguay and Paraguay, the head of South American football confederation Conmebol, and the heads of the Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay football associations. The proposal was first raised informally by the Uruguayan Football Association at a Fifa Council meeting last March.
Fifa's official stance is that it will discuss the expansion with stakeholders and is duty-bound to consider proposals raised at council. However, sources within the organisation have expressed scepticism about the viability of a 64-team tournament. Next year's World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams, while the 2030 edition will be staged across six countries on three continents, with Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina hosting the first three matches before the tournament moves to Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
Any decision to expand the World Cup would be made by the Fifa Council, which meets in Zurich next month, but the issue is not on the agenda. A Fifa source stated: 'Gianni would not get that vote through Council even if he wanted to. The overwhelming feeling around the table – and not just in Europe – is that 64 teams would damage the World Cup. There’d be too many uncompetitive matches and it would risk damaging the business model.'
Conmebol would be the main beneficiaries of another expansion, with sources revealing that Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina claimed they could host all group stage matches. A 64-team World Cup would mean more than 30% of Fifa's 211 member associations would participate, and all 10 Conmebol nations would be in line to qualify, up from six direct spots next year. The idea has faced backlash from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, who called it a 'bad idea', and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani, who said it 'just doesn’t feel right'. Both are Fifa vice-presidents.
A 64-team World Cup would feature 128 matches, double the number played in Qatar three years ago and 24 more than next year's tournament. The World Cup has expanded from 16 teams in 1982 to 24 in 1998 and 32 in 1998, before becoming a 48-team competition next summer. Meanwhile, Fifa is also facing calls from leading European clubs to expand the Club World Cup from 32 teams in 2029, with the possibility of staging it every two years.
