Gianni Infantino has stated that Fifa will explore the possibility of adding another 16 teams to the World Cup ahead of the 2030 tournament. Speaking to a Swiss news organization, the Fifa president suggested that increasing the field from 48 to 64 nations could be a logical step.
“This is certainly something that will be reviewed and debated within the appropriate committees once the current World Cup concludes,” Infantino said. “When staging a World Cup, we must stage it for the entire globe – not solely for Europe and South America – but truly for the whole world.
“Every country should be free to dream of taking part in the World Cup. The level of play across teams is remarkably high right now – and it keeps rising everywhere. If smaller nations aren’t offered a route to the tournament, they lose the motivation to keep progressing.”
From 1998 through 2022 the World Cup featured 32 sides. The 2026 edition will be the first to include 48 teams. After 104 matches, only the two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final will remain.
Infantino described the 48-nation format as a “huge success,” pointing out that every side performed strongly, teams from every continent found the net and collected at least one point, and nine of the ten African participants advanced to the knockout rounds. At the previous tournament, only five African sides took part. “That simply underlines how vital it is to involve all teams – to give them that chance to compete,” he added.
The 2030 competition will be staged across multiple continents. The opening three matches are set to take place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay – one in each nation – while the rest of the fixtures will be held in Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Expanding to 64 teams could allow each of the South American co-hosts to stage an entire four-team group, rather than just a single match.
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