Gianni Infantino opens door to 64-team World Cup

When Infantino was first elected in 2016, part of his manifesto was to increase the size of the World Cup from 32 teams to 40.

In less than a year, that rose to 48 and was approved by the Fifa Council, effective from the 2026 finals.

Since then, speculation has never gone away that Fifa would like to go further and faster.

Going up to 48 teams for the 2022 finals was discussed, but it was accepted that Qatar would not be able to host a tournament of that size on its own.

And this is the issue – the bigger the World Cup becomes, the more challenging it is to host.

This year it is in three countries across a vast area. In 2030, matches will be played in six countries – Morocco, Portugal, Spain, plus Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as centenary hosts.

Just how Saudi Arabia would be able to cope with a 64-team tournament, featuring 128 games, in 2034 is unknown.

Yet it is a great vote winner for Infantino on two counts.

Firstly, it gives more countries the chance to play at a World Cup. Indeed, a 64-team World Cup would see almost a third of the 211 Fifa-affiliated countries qualify.

A bigger World Cup also means more revenue to be distributed to the member associations.