FIFA said on Thursday that it would review a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to celebrate the centenary of the sporting marquee.
The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the opening edition has been shown to host three games.
The World Cup has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for the next year’s version in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“A proposal to analyze the FIFA World Cup, consisting of 64 teams, was raised to celebrate the FIFA World Cup in 2030 by a member of the FIFA Council in the” diverse “agenda element near the end of the FIFA meeting held on March 5, 2025,” a FIFA spokesman told Reuters.
“The idea has been recognized because FIFA has the duty to analyze any suggestion from a member of the Council.”
Earlier on Thursday, New York Times The proposal was presented by Ignacio Alonso, a delegate from Uruguay.
The newspaper, whose sources were not called, said that the proposal was met with “amazing silence” by the participants.
He added that, according to three persons at the meeting, “FIFA is likely to be guided by financial and political benefits as much as sport when it comes to making a decision on this issue.”
The New York Times added, “FIFA President Gianni Infantino confessed to the proposal and said that he must be analyzed closely, according to” four people who have direct knowledge of discussions. “