Conmebol proposes one-off 64-team World Cup in 2030
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez says expanding the 2023 World Cup to 64 teams would enable more matches to be played in South America.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
ASUNCION – The head of South American football’s governing body Conmebol on April 10 called on Fifa to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams in a one-off gesture to mark the tournament’s 100th anniversary.
In opening remarks at Conmebol’s 80th Congress, its president Alejandro Dominguez said increasing the number of teams in the tournament would allow for a broader celebration of the event.
The 2030 World Cup will already make history, with the tournament organised as a sprawling epic spanning six countries in three continents.
The bulk of the games in what is planned to be 48-team event will be shared by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening games of the tournament being split by Argentina, Paraguay, and hosts of the first World Cup in 1930, Uruguay.
However, Dominguez said expanding the tournament to 64 teams would enable more teams to celebrate the occasion.
“We are proposing, for the only time, to hold this centennial with 64 teams on three continents, simultaneously, so that all countries have the opportunity to experience a World Cup and so that no one on this planet is left out of this celebration,” Dominguez said.
“We are convinced that the centennial celebration will be unique because 100 years are celebrated only once.”
Increasing the field would also enable more South American countries to participate.
World governing body Fifa has already increased the size of the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams, up from 32 at the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
A 64-team World Cup would effectively lead to a 128-game tournament – twice the number of matches held in 2022.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino participated in the Conmebol Congress, which was held via videoconference, and highlighted the “exceptional milestone” that the 2030 tournament will represent.
Fifa said earlier it would review the expansion proposal.
The idea of a 64-team World Cup was first raised at a Fifa Council meeting in March by Uruguay Football Association president Ignacio Alonso.
However, the proposal was met with scepticism by Aleksander Ceferin, the head of European governing body Uefa, who described it as a “bad idea”.
“It’s maybe even more surprising for me than for you. I think it’s a bad idea,” said the Slovene.
“I think it’s not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it’s not a good idea for our qualifiers as well, as you know. So, I’m not supporting that idea, he said. AFP
