FIFA is considering expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.

FIFA will consider expanding the World Cup to 64 teams in 2030, according to a proposal made at the governing body's meeting on Wednesday.

According to the New York Times, Ignacio Alonso, president of the Uruguayan Football Association, made the proposal following a FIFA council meeting.

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, was reportedly interested in the idea.

A FIFA spokesperson told The Guardian that "a proposal to analyze a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030 was spontaneously raised by a FIFA council member in the 'miscellaneous' agenda item near the end of the FIFA council meeting held on 5 March 2025.

"The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its council members."

The World Cup will already expand once this decade, from 32 to 48 teams at next year's tournament in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The tournament will expand from 64 to 104 matches in 2026.

Infantino has made tinkering with the World Cup a hallmark of his presidency, though a proposal to move the tournament from every four years to every two years was dropped due to widespread opposition. Infantino announced earlier this week that next year's edition will feature a Super Bowl-style half-time show, marking yet another departure from tradition.

Expanding what some say is already a bloated and unwieldy competition to 64 teams would involve more than a quarter of FIFA's 211 member associations, posing additional logistical challenges for the six host countries in 2030. The 2030 tournament, marking the centenary of the first World Cup, will take place across three continents, raising concerns about the event's environmental impact.

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