The 2030 World Cup will be expanded even further, with 64 teams taking part – according to the CONMEBOL president.
After the first installment of the 48-team competition came to a close, the head of South America’s governing body, Alejandro Dominguez, took to social media to supposedly reveal the news.
He wrote on X: ‘The next one is played at home! In 2030, the World Cup comes to Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, a great opportunity for soccer, to celebrate the Centenary of the World Cup with a competition featuring 64 teams.
Officially, Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host the next World Cup, but some games will take place in South America too.
In the current format, a round of 32 has been introduced, with just 16 of 48 teams knocked out in the group stage.
If there are 64 teams, it’s likely there will be 16 groups of four teams, with the top two in each group progressing.
CONMEBOL chief Alejandro Dominguez (right) has suggested the 2030 World Cup will feature 64 teams, with Gianni Infantino (left) open to the idea
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has already opened the door to a 64-team World Cup.
He told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport during the World Cup, when pushed on if there could be even more teams taking part next time around: ‘These are all issues that we will be examining after the 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.’
He also boasted the apparent success of the 48-team format, adding: ‘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.’
