Concacaf President Victor Montagliani has expressed his disagreement with CONMEBOL’s idea to increase the number of teams in the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64.
This proposal, introduced by the South American soccer organization CONMEBOL and its president Alejandro Dominguez last week, has faced opposition from UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
CONMEBOL President Dominguez suggested increasing the number of teams in the World Cup to 64 in 2030, which is more than the 48 teams set for 2026.
The tournament will take place in Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, following the opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams.
However, CONMEBOL has stated that it wishes to include more teams to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the competition.
“I don’t think that increasing the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the best choice for the tournament or football as a whole, including national teams, club competitions, leagues, and players.
“We haven’t even started the new 48-team World Cup yet, so I believe discussing a move to 64 teams isn’t necessary right now,” Montagliani told journalists, BBC reports.
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CONCACAF is the organisation that oversees football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The decision to increase the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams was made in 2017 after a unanimous vote at a FIFA congress.
FIFA’s 75th congress is scheduled to take place in Paraguay on May 15, where they might talk about CONMEBOL’s proposal.
If they approve this proposal, the 2030 World Cup would feature 128 matches, which is double the number of games played in the 64-game format used from 1998 to 2022.
In March, Ceferin called the proposal a “bad idea,” while AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa warned it could lead to “chaos.”
“If this issue stays open for discussion, then we might not only see the tournament expand to 64 teams,” Salman said. “Someone could also suggest increasing the number to 132 teams. Where would that leave us? It would create chaos.”
