The president of Conmebol will make an official proposal to FIFA, expanding the 2030 World Cup for men on the continent to 64 teams.
Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American football dominant organization Conmebol, has made an official proposal to expand the men’s 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.
The proposal was introduced last month by Uruguay representatives at an online meeting of FIFA’s Control Council, chaired by President Gianni Infantino.
“We are confident that Centennial celebrations will be unique as 100 years are celebrated only once,” Dominguez said in Konmebol’s 80th opening speech to the ordinary parliament.
The 2030 World Cup is already set to be the most vast edition, with six host countries spreading across three continents.
Uruguay was the original host of the World Cup in 1930 and is set to stage one game. Paraguay, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are also co-hosts.
“That’s why we’re proposing for the first time that 64 teams will hold this anniversary on three continents at the same time,” Dominguez added.
There were 32 teams in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup. That number will expand to 48 at the 2026 World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.
Scaling to 64 teams could guarantee a bigger tournament location for all 10 Conmebol members. Venezuela is the only one who has never qualified for the World Cup.
“This allows all countries to have the opportunity to experience the world, so no one on earth will be excluded from the party,” Dominguez added.
Once FIFA approves the move, it will create a 128-match tournament, twice the number of 64-game formats that took place from 1998 to 2022.
Infantino has consistently driven bigger new tournaments in the presidency since 2016, seeking more revenue from a coalition of FIFA’s 211 members, seeking the chance for the national team to qualify.
However, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin calls the 64-team World Cup a “bad idea.”
Critics of the 64-team proposal have argued that they will weaken the quality of play and devalue the qualifying program on most continents.
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