Infantino opens door to 64-team World Cup after 48-team ‘success’

Gianni Infantino has signalled that Fifa will formally examine expanding the World Cup to 64 teams once this summer’s 48-team tournament concludes, insisting the competition must be organised “for the whole world” rather than favouring established footballing powers.

Speaking to Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, the Fifa president was asked directly whether the tournament could grow further beyond its current 48-team format. “These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” he said, adding that “every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.”

Infantino argued that the standard of football among smaller nations continues to rise, and warned that excluding them would remove the incentive for those countries to keep developing. “If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving,” he said.

African sides used as evidence of 48-team success

The Fifa chief pointed to this summer’s tournament as proof that the expanded 48-team format, which he pushed through and which was formally approved by the Fifa council in 2017, has already paid off. He highlighted that nine of the ten African teams at the competition progressed to the knockout stages, compared with just five African sides reaching the previous World Cup.

“That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate,” Infantino said, describing the 48-team edition as “a huge success” overall.

A formal proposal to expand the World Cup further to 64 teams was put forward by South American confederation Conmebol in April 2025, though no decision has yet been taken by Fifa. The idea is expected to be assessed in detail once this summer’s tournament has finished, with the 2030 World Cup – co-hosted mainly by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with opening fixtures staged in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to mark the competition’s centenary – potentially in the frame for any change.

Confederations push back against further growth

Not everyone shares Infantino’s enthusiasm. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has already dismissed the 64-team plan as a “bad idea”, warning it would create problems for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process leading up to it.

The Asian Football Confederation’s president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, has voiced similar concerns, suggesting further expansion would bring “chaos” to the game. Victor Montagliani, president of Concacaf, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said the proposal “doesn’t feel right” and cautioned that it could damage the wider football ecosystem.

For UK supporters, any move to 64 teams would have significant implications for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaigns, potentially reshaping the path to future tournaments even as questions persist over fixture congestion and player welfare in an already crowded international calendar.

Read more: Open Championship on standby for tee-time rethink if England reach World Cup final

Sources

• The Independent
• BBC Sport

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.