New york city [US]: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has actually exposed that the governing body will check out the possibility of broadening the FIFA World Cup to a 64-team competition for the 2030 edition.
The World Cup is currently set to go through a significant growth in 2026, with the competition increasing from 32 to 48 groups for the finals hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The 32-team format had actually remained in location from 1998 through the 2022 World Cup.
Infantino, the president of world football’s governing body, validated talks would occur over the proposed format after this summertime’s competition.
Check out |Kylian Mbappé: How France’s super star is chasing after FIFA World Cup 2026 magnificence and football immortality
“It (a 64-team tournament) is definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” Infantino stated in an interview with Swiss media outlet Bluewin according to The Athletic.
“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,” he included.
The 56-year-old FIFA president likewise explained the growth of the World Cup to 48 groups as “100 per cent a success”highlighting the favorable action to the bigger format ahead of its intro at the upcoming edition.
Check out |England, Argentina to restore bitter competition in World Cup semi-final
The 2030 World Cup will be a historical multi-continent competition, with matches arranged throughout 6 countries covering 3 continents. Uruguay, the host of the inaugural 1930 World Cup, in addition to 2022 champs Argentina and Paraguay, are set to stage one opening match each. The rest of the competition’s components– 101 matches in the 48-team format– will be shared in between Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.
In September 2025, FIFA conversations started on the possibility of broadening the competition even more for 2030 after the governing body got an official proposition from a delegation of prominent South American leaders.
< meta material ="cms.article3" name ="cmsei-article3">
