FIFA Chief Infantino Explains Possible Reasoning Behind Potential World Cup Expansion to 64 Nations

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has given the green light for an assessment of the feasibility of increasing the 2030 FIFA World Cup's team count to 64, following the successful implementation of the newly expanded 48-team format.

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The 2026 World Cup was the inaugural edition to feature 48 participating nations, marking a significant increase from the 32-team format that was in place from 1998 to 2022, and now FIFA is mulling over the possibility of adding 16 more teams to the mix for the centenary tournament in 2030.

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The 2030 World Cup is slated to be hosted across six countries and three continents, with Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay each hosting one match to commemorate the tournament's 100th anniversary, while the majority of the competition will be hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

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Discussions regarding a potential expansion began after FIFA received a formal proposal in September of the previous year, and the matter is expected to be revisited after the conclusion of the 2026 tournament, with Infantino stating that the issue of a 64-team tournament will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees.

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Infantino emphasized that every nation should have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, citing the extremely high and continually improving quality of teams worldwide, and stressing that smaller countries need to be given a chance to participate in order to maintain their incentive to improve.

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According to Infantino, the World Cup is an event that should be inclusive of the entire world, not just limited to Europe and South America, and he described the 2026 World Cup as "100 percent a success" despite the mixed reactions to the expanded 48-team format.

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The expansion of the tournament has sparked a divide in opinion within the football community, with critics arguing that the larger field has diluted the quality of some group-stage matches and made it easier for teams to reach the knockout rounds.

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If the proposal for a 64-team World Cup is approved, it would enable more than a quarter of FIFA's 210 men's national teams to compete, significantly reducing the difficulty of qualification for many countries.

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However, the proposal has already faced opposition from senior football officials, including Aleksander Čeferin, who described the idea as a "bad idea", and Victor Montagliani, who stated that expanding the tournament further was "not a great idea".