FIFA to consider expanding World Cup to 64 teams

FIFA, the governing body for global football, is considering a plan that would increase the number of teams in the 2030 World Cup to 64 for a one-off expansion to mark the centenary of the event, the organization said on Thursday.
The proposal, which was made toward the end of a FIFA board meeting on Wednesday, would upend a tournament that already figures to be unwieldy and complicated because it will be played across three continents for the first time.
The World Cup is the most lucrative and most watched event in sports, bringing in billions for FIFA, but the coveted nature of the competition has led to battles among nations to host it, as well as widespread allegations in the past of corruption.
The decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia was criticized by good governance organizations, after FIFA changed its own rules to allow the country to effectively secure rights without facing any competition.
The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has already overseen the expansion of the World Cup once during his nine-year tenure, bringing the number of teams up to 48 from 32 at the next edition in 2026, which will be mostly played in the United States but also include matches in Mexico and Canada.
According to four people with direct knowledge of the discussions, the proposal for a 64-team tournament came as the meeting was drawing to a close and had reached the section of the agenda earmarked for "miscellaneous" issues.
At that point, a delegate from Uruguay, Ignacio Alonso, made the proposal, reading a prepared speech in English.
Three of the people with knowledge of the meeting, which was held via video, described the reaction from others present as stunned silence, and the proposals will almost certainly be met with a huge outcry.
But they cautioned that FIFA was likely to be guided by financial and political benefits as much as sporting ones when it came to making a decision.
Infantino, who has expanded his influence over the organization and the sport since he become the head of FIFA, acknowledged the proposal and said it should be analyzed more closely, according to the four people.
Since assuming the highest office in global football, Infantino has made several attempts to reshape the sport, efforts that have often led to public disputes with many other prominent figures in the football world.
A proposal to analyze a 64-team World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the event "was spontaneously raised by a FIFA Council member in the 'miscellaneous' agenda item near the end" of a board meeting, FIFA said in a statement after The New York Times first published details of the discussions.
"The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its council members," the statement added.
The last time FIFA considered a major change to the World Cup, staging the event every two years instead of four, it formed a committee that worked on the project for a year before quietly mothballing the idea.
Expanding the World Cup to 64 teams -- more than a quarter of FIFA's overall membership -- could render many of the regional qualification competitions for the event meaningless.
Already, as many as seven teams out of 10 from South America can qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and further expanding the World Cup could reduce its appeal for broadcasters.
There are also significant logistical issues. The tournament, with 32 teams, already takes about a month and would almost certainly run longer in an expanded format. The 48-team tournament in 2026 will feature a record 104 games.
Under Infantino, FIFA has been constantly exploring ways to alter its marquee event, efforts that have usually been met with blowback from other parts of the football industry.
On Wednesday, FIFA announced a collaboration with the British rock band Coldplay to put together a halftime show for the first time at a World Cup final when it is played in New Jersey next summer.
The move is similar to what the NFL does with the Super Bowl, its showpiece event, but the announcement was greeted with yet more criticism.
At one point, Infantino supported the effort to play the World Cup every two years rather than four, and a furious reaction -- largely from European football's governing body -- forced backers of the idea to shelve it.
Saudi Arabia secured its event after FIFA announced that Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina would join Morocco, Spain and Portugal in hosting matches for the 2030 tournament, narrowing the field for potential future hosts in 2034.
The three South American nations were awarded one game each to commemorate the centenary of the tournament, which was first played in Uruguay in 1930.
The expansion proposal comes amid regional frustration at automatic places for the three South American hosts for the 2030 World Cup -- particularly Paraguay, home of the regional confederation president, which has failed in recent attempts to qualify for the World Cup.
Infantino secured the FIFA presidency in 2016 after a corruption scandal that led to the ouster of most of its previous leadership.
He ran on a campaign of promising more funds to FIFA's 211 members and a promise to increase the size of the World Cup. Infantino now spends most of his time in Miami and has grown close to President Donald Trump, who recently described the FIFA president, whom he invited to his inauguration, as the "king of soccer."
Infantino has spent most of his time in his office devising ways to leave a lasting legacy. As well as expanding the World Cup for both men and women, he has created a new World Cup for club teams that will be staged for the first time this summer in the United States.
Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump took part in the draw that set up the competitions matchups at an event in Miami late last year.
The new club competition is facing several headwinds, including sluggish ticket sales in the United States and a dispute with leagues and player unions, which have filed legal complaints in Europe.
(This article originally appeared in The New York Times)