FIFA is considering a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to a whopping 64 teams, twice the size of the 2022 tournament and previous editions.
The World Cup is set to expand to 48 teams for the first time in 2026. Although eventual expansion to 64 is probably inevitable, the expectation has been that 48-team fields would be the norm for at least a decade, and probably two, in keeping with the tournament’s historical growth trajectory.
But, at Wednesday’s FIFA council meeting, according to a report from the New York Times, the president of Uruguay’s soccer federation proposed a one-off expansion for the 2030 World Cup, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the event. (FIFA told Yahoo Sports that the proposal was “to analyze a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary.”)
That tournament will be held across six countries and three continents. It will begin with one game apiece in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the first World Cup was held in 1930. It will then shift to Spain, Portugal and Morocco; those three neighbors, under the current format, would be tasked with hosting 101 of the 104 games over 39 days.
An expanded World Cup would increase the burden on all three. It would carry all sorts of logistical concerns. Organizing the first 48-team World Cup in 2026, spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is already proving a colossal challenge for FIFA and North American organizers.
A 64-team World Cup would likely be a 128-match affair. Although its format — with 16 groups of four, then a 32-team knockout stage — would actually be preferred to the unwieldy 48-team version, it could strain the capabilities of transport networks and local facilities. Saudi Arabia and other potential future hosts likely would not be able to match the 64-team event in 2034 and beyond.
The Uruguayan official, Ignacio Alonso, made the proposal by reading from a prepared statement in English toward the end of Wednesday’s meeting. It stunned some of the 37 members of the council, FIFA’s ruling body, who had mostly gathered virtually, via videoconference.
But Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s all-powerful president, called the proposal an interesting one that should be studied, according to the Times.
In fact, it’s not outlandish to assume that Infantino and Alonso had discussed the idea before Alonso brought it to the council. Infantino, ever since his 2016 election, has pushed relentlessly to expand competitions and launch new ones to augment FIFA’s revenue — which he can use to fulfill promises of multimillion-dollar handouts to each of FIFA’s 211 member associations, which double as his electorate. (He was re-elected by acclamation, after running unopposed, in 2023.)
A FIFA spokesman, in response to an email seeking further details about the origin of the idea, claimed that it was “spontaneously raised” at Wednesday’s meeting. “The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its council members,” the spokesman wrote.
It’s unclear how, exactly, the proposal will be studied, or who would decide on further expansion, or when.
Separately, FIFA is already considering expanding the Women’s World Cup to 48 teams in 2031, just two cycles after it expanded from 24 to 32. That 2031 tournament will likely be held in the U.S., after FIFA, with little justification, opaquely barred most other potential hosts from bidding.
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