Julius OkorieAs part of the centenary celebration of the World Cup, soccer ruling body, FIFA, is tinkering with the idea of increasing the number of teams for the 2030 World Cup to 64.
The 2026 World Cup to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico will be featuring 48 teams for the first time, 16 teams higher than the traditional 32 teams. FIFA again is considering another 16 team addition that will shoot participating teams to 64.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe controversial proposal came from Ignacio Alonso, a Uruguayan delegate, at a FIFA meeting, with the subject coming up during the ‘miscellaneous’ portion of the meeting; it was met with stunned silence, according to the New York Times.
While the proposal is controversial, Infantino is said to be considering it.
The 48-team tournament in 2026 will require 104 games to be played across the tournament and a further expansion would only bloat the schedule. Nevertheless, Infantino seems to be considering the possibility of once again tinkering with the format of a tournament that has run since 1930.
The 2030 tournament is already considered large in some quarters, with the competition to be played across six countries, viz Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, but the anniversary matches will be played in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
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The historic participation of 64 teams would coincide with the centenary celebration of the World Cup, as the first tournament was held 100 years earlier in Uruguay in 1930.
On December 11, the FIFA Extraordinary Congress awarded the hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup to Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, with additional matches to be played in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. At the same meeting, the Congress also unanimously approved awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
There are however indications that the 2030 World Cup, which will be hosted by Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, could be a one-off, 64-team tournament.
Already the proposal is generating reactions from football enthusiasts with various opinions.
Sara Conrad 👩🏼💻⚽️🇪🇸🌍 @SaraCsit said “Noooooo, please no. There are already too many teams that shouldn’t be on pitch. Some that will never have chance to win, & lose all their matches. Make a second lvl World Cup for those countries. 64?? Ridiculous!!! Halftime show?? Even more ridiculous.”
LaJoie de Vivre@StadiumThrills, offering his advice to the FIFA boss says, “He needs to be careful — having too many 4th to 6th tier teams won’t be good for the product, especially when it comes to viewership and ratings.”
Daniel James@trooper229james appears to be worried over how all these will be joggled, saying “You would need 8 matches a day. You’d need to do start times at 10am, 12,2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm and possibly 10pm. And then have a round of 32 knockout. I don’t know how they could pull that off”
Eddy LAT@latnofear is worried about the impact on the players, with many questions, “Given other countries a chance to qualify is good but how long does it take to finish the world cup? and when is the new season league gonna start? does the player get a break at least?”
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
