World Cup with 64 teams? More and more headwind

The proposal from South America to play the 2030 World Cup with 64 teams is experiencing more and more rejection. Now the leader of the association from North and Central America also spoke out.

“I don’t think the expansion of the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right step for the tournament itself and the entire football ecosystem, from the national teams to the club competitions, leagues and players”said Victor Montagliani as President of Concacaf on Monday (April 14th, 2025) at “ESPN“. It is not even the first World Cup with 48 teams, so” an extension to 64 teams should not be discussed at all “.

The Concacaf is the continental association for North and Central America and the Caribbean. It is comparable to UEFA in Europe in her role.

Rejection in Asia

The President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Chalifa from Bahrain, had had one on Saturday before the AFC’s Congress in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur from the French news agency AFP “Personal rejection” spoken of the proposal. He added that the 2030 edition was set to 48 teams, “This clarifies the matter”.

Alejandro Dominguez, President of the South American Conmebol Conmebol, had proposed that the tournament 2030 on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the World Cup “Unique” to expand to 64 teams. So far, the 2030 World Cup is planned with 48 teams, like the 2026 and 2034 tournaments.

Scheich Salman said that he rejected that there were always changes in the World Cup. “Then the door will not only be open to the expansion of the tournament to 64 teams, but someone could come and demand to increase the number to 132 teams. Where would we land? He restricted for the time after 2034: “If we want to discuss subsequent tournaments, that’s another thing.”

FIFA General Secretary: Proposal is “analyzed”

FIFA General Secretary Mattias Grafström was a guest at the AFC Congress. According to AFP, he said that the World Association is the South American proposal “analyze” would. “There are many things that need to be checked and we will take the time to talk to everyone about it.”

Accordingly “Cleared” is. FIFA had also tried to expand the tournament after the award before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but came to a negative result in a feasibility study.

Uefa President Ceferin also said herself

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also had a cancellation at the UEFA Congress in Belgrade in Belgrade with 64 teams: “I think this is a bad idea, both for the World Cup and for our qualification competition. That’s why I don’t support it. I don’t know where the idea comes from. But it is strange that we didn’t know anything about this proposal in the FIFA Council.”

At the beginning of March, Uruguay’s association president Ignacio Alonso had made the proposal in the FIFA Council to carry out the 2030 World Cup with 64 teams. According to FIFA, the proposal was “spontaneous” presented.

For the World Cup 2026, the World Cup is expanded from 32 to 48 teams. For the continental associations, it is becoming increasingly difficult to organize athletically sensible qualification competitions, for which transmission rights, sponsorship packages and tickets can be sold.

World Cup 2030 will be logistical anyway Challenge

According to previous planning, the 2030 World Cup with 48 teams in Spain, Portugal and Morocco takes place. There is also an opening game in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The teams of all six countries are automatically qualified. The tournament was awarded the 2034 World Cup (Saudi Arabia) at the same time, which was the criticism of human rights organizations, sports law experts and the Norwegian association. The DFB agreed in the FIFA Council and FIFA Congress.

Organizationally, it will be a big task in the game plan to keep the sporting disadvantage of the teams small, who have to fly from their first games in South America to their second games to Europe or Africa. “The planned schedule provides for about eleven to twelve days for travel and resting phases before the second game of the six teams playing in South America“FIFA said.

The other teams that are already in Europe and Africa should only be available for five to six days. The previous plan:

The tournament takes more than six weeks, in 2026 there are just over five. However, the player’s gathering phase should remain the same. The teams that play in South America have less time for test games or preparation. It remains questionable whether the additional games could be accommodated in this schedule for an extension to 64 teams.