Gianni Infantino hints at expanding World Cup again to 64 teams

Gianni Infantino has opened the door to further expanding the World Cup to 64 teams. Infantino successfully pushed for the growth of the World Cup to 48 teams as has been seen at this summer’s edition, a move which initially drew significant scrutiny but has brought little debate since the tournament began. The Fifa president says the success of the 48-team World Cup means the world governing body now have reason to consider further expansion ahead of the 2030 tournament held across Spain, Portugal and Morocco. "These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup," Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams. Gianni Infantino has opened the door to further expanding the World Cup (Reuters) "When organising a World Cup, it's important to organise it for the whole world - not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. 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." Approved by the Fifa Council in 2017, the first 48-team World Cup has allowed for the likes of Curacao to break records as the smallest nation to ever qualify , with Jordan and Uzbekistan also debuting. Cape Verde’s stunning run to the knockout stages , where they took holders Argentina to extra time, was one of the stories of the tournament - but this was not a byproduct of expansion more than it was down to their own performance, due to the fact they topped their African qualifying group ahead of Cameroon. Curacao became the smallest ever country to play at a World Cup this year (PA) There were questions over whether expanding the tournament would lead to a dilution in quality but Infantino had lauded the 48-team tournament as a resounding success. "Every team played at a high level,” he said. “Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point. Nine out of 10 African teams reached the knockout stage. At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams, to give them this opportunity to participate." South American federation Conmebol officially proposed expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams in April 2025, though no decision has been reached. Nevertheless, further expansion has been dismissed by many, with Uefa’s Alexander Ceferin among those to believe it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament and the qualifying process. Leaders in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Concacaf, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, agreed with this sentiment, despite the fact an expanded World Cup would likely benefit their nations the most . AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said further expansion would bring "chaos" while Concacaf chief Victor Montagliani feared such a suggestion coming to pass would damage "the broader football ecosystem". Infantino, meanwhile, conceded that the introduction of hydration breaks during each half had proved controversial – a move widely perceived as a cynical attempt to boost advertising revenue for television partners. "This is a topic that sparks a lot of debate,” he added. “After all, we don’t want to get everything perfect; we like to give everyone something to disagree with... no, joking aside. Infantino conceded that the introduction of hydration breaks proved controvsial (Getty) “Last year, during the Club World Cup in the USA, there were cooling breaks whenever it was very hot. These short breaks occurred in about 60 percent of the matches but not in the other 40 percent because the temperature wasn't as high. There were many complaints, as the feeling was that all teams should face the same conditions.” He also mounted a defence of the hefty ticket prices at the World Cup, stating: "The stadiums are full; capacity utilisation is at 99.7 percent and it will likely reach 99.9 percent by the end. “Experts determined the ticket prices before the tournament. Our experts worked on that and told us: ‘These are the prices you can go with’. We see the proof now: prices that some people claimed were too high are being resold on the secondary market —which is perfectly legal here — for four or five times the original cost." Infantino said he expected Fifa to generate ​a total of 13 to 14 billion Swiss francs (£12.02bn to £12.95bn) from the 39-day World Cup, which he branded as “quite satisfactory”.