Gianni Infantino opens door to 64-team World Cup
When Infantino was first elected in 2016, part of his manifesto was to increase the number of teams for the World Cup from 32 to 40.
In less than a year, this number increased to 48 and was approved by the FIFA Council, effective from the 2026 finals.
Since then, speculation that FIFA wants to go further and faster has never gone away.
It was discussed that 48 teams would participate in the 2022 finals, but it was accepted that Qatar could not host a tournament of this size alone.
The problem is that the bigger the World Cup gets, the harder it is to host.
This year, in three countries spread over a wide area. In 2030, the matches will be played in six countries: Morocco, Portugal, Spain, as well as centenary hosts Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
It is unknown how Saudi Arabia will be able to cope with a tournament involving 64 teams and 128 matches in 2034.
Still, Infantino won a big vote on two counts.
First, it gives more countries the chance to play in the World Cup. Indeed, in a World Cup involving 64 teams, almost a third of FIFA’s 211 affiliated countries are expected to qualify.
A bigger World Cup also means more revenue distributed to member associations.
