By Amaechi Agbo
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has revealed that world football’s governing body will examine the possibility of expanding the FIFA World Cup from 48 to 64 teams ahead of the 2030 edition, describing the move as another step towards making the tournament more inclusive.
Speaking in an interview with Swiss media outlet Bluewin, Infantino said the proposal would be discussed by FIFA’s relevant committees after the conclusion of the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is the first edition to feature 48 participating nations.
According to the FIFA boss, increasing the number of teams would provide more countries with the opportunity to compete on football’s biggest stage while encouraging the continued development of the game across all continents.
“When organizing a World Cup, it’s important to organize it for the whole world, not just Europe and South America but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup,” Infantino said.
He noted that the standard of football continues to improve globally and argued that denying smaller nations access to the World Cup could hinder their progress.
Infantino also hailed the expanded 48-team format as a major success, pointing to the competitiveness displayed throughout the tournament.
“Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point,” he said. “Nine out of 10 African teams reached the knockout stage. At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa. That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams.”
The World Cup featured 32 teams from France 1998 through Qatar 2022 before expanding to 48 teams for the 2026 tournament, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
With only Argentina, England, France and Spain remaining in the race for the title, attention is already beginning to shift toward the 2030 edition.
The centenary World Cup will be staged across six nations and three continents.
Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay will each host an opening match to commemorate the inaugural tournament held in Uruguay in 1930, while the rest of the competition will be played in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
Should FIFA approve a further expansion to 64 teams, the South American hosts could stage full four-team groups instead of hosting only one opening match each, significantly increasing their role in the historic tournament.
