An official proposal to expand the men’s 2030 World Cup to 64 teams has been put forward by South American governing body CONMEBOL.
The tournament will be hosted by Spain, Morocco and Portugal, after the opening matches are held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The 2026 World Cup will be the first with 48 teams, but Conmebol wants to expand further for 2030 to mark the competition’s 100th anniversary.
“This will allow all countries to have the opportunity to live the world experience and so nobody on the planet is left out of the party,” said Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez at the body’s congress on Thursday.
“We are convinced that the centennial celebration will be unique because 100 years are celebrated only once,” he said.
The idea was first “spontaneously raised” at a FIFA Council meeting in March by Uruguayan Football Federation president Ignacio Alonso.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who participated in Thursday’s CONMEBOL congress, highlighted the “exceptional milestone” the 2030 tournament would represent.
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Should the proposal be accepted, the 2030 edition would include 128 matches – up from the 64-game format played between 1998 and 2022.
Critics of the expansion say it devalues the qualification process.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin described the proposal as a “bad idea” earlier this month.
“This proposal was maybe even more surprising for me than for you. I think it is a bad idea,” Ceferin said at a news conference.
The 2030 World Cup is being held across three continents for the first time.
Spain, Portugal and Morocco were named tournament hosts in 2024, with matches to be held in Argentina and Paraguay to mark the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup tournament.
Uruguay, the inaugural winners of the competition in 1930, have since been announced as co-hosts, with the country to host one game.
