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FIFA to Examine 64-Team Expansion for 2030 World Cup
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the organization will review a proposal to expand the men's World Cup to 64 teams for the 2030 tournament. The review follows the first 48-team edition hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. Opposition has emerged from European and Asian confederation leaders.
Jul 13, 7:29 AM·1m read2 sources
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FIFA will examine expanding the men's World Cup to 64 teams for the 2030 tournament, President Gianni Infantino told Swiss news site Bluewin. Infantino said the proposal will be reviewed by the organization's relevant committees after the 2026 World Cup concludes. The 2026 tournament marks the first expansion to 48 teams and is hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Infantino described the move to 48 teams as "100 percent" the right decision and called the format a "huge success". He noted that teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point, with nine of ten African teams reaching the knockout stage compared with five at the prior World Cup.
The 64-team idea was first raised in March 2025 by Uruguayan Football Federation President Ignacio Alonso at a FIFA Council meeting and later formally presented by CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez.
The 2030 World Cup is scheduled for June and July across Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three centenary matches to be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The event will be the first staged across six countries and three continents. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin called the 64-team proposal "a bad idea" and said it would harm both the tournament and European qualifiers.
Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa also rejected the plan, stating that keeping the issue open could lead to demands for even larger fields and create chaos. FIFA has not set a timeline for a decision. Any format change requires approval from the FIFA Council.
