FIFA is considering expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed in a media interview that FIFA officials will study the possibility of expanding the World Cup to 64 teams before the 2030 World Cup.

Infantino believes that increasing the number of teams from the current 48 to 64 is a reasonable option. He stated that this issue will definitely be submitted to the relevant committee for study and discussion after the World Cup concludes.

At the same time, Infantino emphasized that the World Cup should serve the entire world, not just be limited to Europe and South America. Every country should dream of participating in the World Cup; if smaller countries are not given the opportunity to participate, they will lack the motivation to continuously improve.

The World Cup maintained a 32-team format from 1998 to 2022, but expanded to 48 teams for the first time in 2026, with a total of 104 matches. Gianni Infantino highly praised the 48-team experiment, calling it a huge success.

Infantino pointed out that every team displayed a very high level of play, with teams from all continents scoring goals and earning at least one point. Nine out of ten African teams successfully advanced to the knockout stage, compared to only five African teams in the last World Cup. This clearly demonstrates the importance of giving more teams the opportunity to participate.

The 2030 World Cup will be co-hosted by multiple countries, with the first three matches planned to be held in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, and the remaining matches in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

Once the World Cup is confirmed to expand to 64 teams, these three South American countries will be able to host a full group stage match each, instead of just one game.

Image source: Internet