FIFA President Gianni Infantino considering a proposal to add a further 16 nations ahead of the World Cup in four years.By ReutersPublished On 12 Jul 202612 Jul 2026FIFA officials will look at the possibility of expanding the World Cup by adding another 16 teams for the 2030 tournament, said Gianni Infantino.The FIFA president told the Swiss media outlet Bluewin that growing from 48 to 64 teams could make sense.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” he said.“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise 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. You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high – and it’s getting higher and higher all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”The World Cup finals had 32 teams from 1998 through 2022. The current 2026 edition is the first with 48 teams.Four teams – Argentina, England, France and Spain – remain in the tournament. Two semifinal matches and the final are all that remain from the initial 104-match schedule in Canada, Mexico and across the United States.Infantino said he considers the 48-team field to be a “huge success”.“Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point,” he said. “Nine out of …
