FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to make another huge tweak to the World Cup after already implementing more rule changes than ever before this summer's tournament began
Gianni Infantino has stated that FIFA will look at expanding the World Cup to 64 teams in a significant announcement ahead of this year's semi-finals.
The contentious president believes this inaugural edition with 48 sides has been a massive success. Its early editions featured between 13 and 16 teams, before eventually growing to 24 in 1982.
Sixteen years on, the World Cup expanded to 32, a figure that remained unchanged for nearly three decades until this summer's tournament. However, the World Cup could now double in size from the 2022 edition to the 2030 tournament, which Morocco, Portugal and Spain will host.
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The 2026 World Cup is down to the last four teams, with England facing Argentina on Wednesday after France take on Spain on Tuesday. When questioned whether World Cup expansion was the correct decision, FIFA's president told Swiss publication Bluewin: "Yes, 100 per cent! It's been a huge success with 48 teams.
"Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point.
"Nine out of ten 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, to give them this opportunity to participate."
Infantino also touched on the topic of a further increase to 64 teams. He said: "That's definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup.
"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."
Infantino has promoted expansion since taking charge. He also supervised similar alterations to the European Championship while serving as UEFA Secretary General.
The competition featured 16 teams for two decades, until the number was raised to 24 for the 2016 edition. It began with just four teams, then doubled to eight in 1980 and again to 16 in 1996.
Football supporters are divided over the latest discussion of expanding the World Cup. One user on X questioned: "Why stop at 64?"
"Just invite all 211 FIFA nations. Let's have a nine-month World Cup hosted across 45 different countries. Think of the broadcast revenue! Who cares if the players' legs literally snap in half by December as long as FIFA executives get their yacht money? Games gone."
One individual argued: "World Cup should be 32 teams. Eight groups of four, every game with something on the line, no dead rubbers, no group-of-three shenanigans-quality over quantity. Forty-eight was already a stretch. Sixty-four would turn the greatest tournament on earth into a marathon of mismatches."
However, in contrast, another person countered: "Sixty-four would likely be played in the same timeframe, add zero games per team, and the quality of team 33-48 at this tournament is clearly not lacking. Oh, and the format is cleaner. Sixty-four is a win for everyone, whether they know it or not."
One more called Infantino "a fraud" after describing it as a "disgraceful abuse of power". They added: "No need for 48 Teams. Cap the ticket prices. Keep politics out."
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