FIFA will reportedly consider a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup to a whopping 64 teams, twice the size of the 2022 tournament and previous editions.
The World Cup is set to expand to 48 teams for the first time in 2026. Although eventual expansion to 64 is probably inevitable, the expectation has been that 48-team fields would be the norm for at least a decade, and probably two, in keeping with the tournament’s history of growth.
But, at Wednesday’s FIFA Council meeting, according to a report from the New York Times, the president of Uruguay’s soccer federation proposed a one-off expansion for the 2030 World Cup, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the event.
That tournament will be held across six countries and three continents. It will begin with one game apiece in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the first World Cup was held in 1930. It will then shift to Spain, Portugal and Morocco; those three neighbors, under the current format, would be tasked with hosting 101 of the 104 games over 39 days.
An expanded World Cup would increase the burden on all three. It would carry all sorts of logistical concerns. Organizing the first 48-team World Cup in 2026, spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is already proving a colossal challenge for FIFA and North American organizers.
A 64-team World Cup would likely be a 128-match affair.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
