World Cup 2026: England's push for 'missing piece' plus 64 team expansion debate

Expansion would pose challenges for hosts

Dale Johnson

Football issues correspondent

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.

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Get Involved - Should the World Cup be bigger?

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We want to know what you think of Gianni Infantino's plans to make the world's biggest football tournament even bigger.

If you've loved watching the World Cup this summer, the idea of an expanded tournament and more games to enjoy might only be positive.

But would the games be of the same quality? What about the impact on the tournament's sustainability?

Maybe after all these late nights, you're not sure if you have the appetite to watch even more matches.

Let us know your thoughts on plans for a 64-team tournament by clicking 'Get Involved' at the top of this page.

Infantino opens door to 64-team World Cup

Alex Brotherton

BBC Sport journalist

Plans for a 64-team men's World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be "for the whole world".

The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.

"These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup," Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.

"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."

Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been "a huge success", citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.

"At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa," he said. "That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams - to give them this opportunity to participate."

Can England step it up a gear?

England v Argentina (Wed, 20:00 BST)

In an ideal world, the Three Lions would be 3-0 up at the break against Argentina and we could all enjoy a relaxing stroll to victory in the second half.

That's what comes to my mind when Harry Kane speaks of 'another level'.

Optimistic.

While that scenario may not come to pass, do you think it is reasonable to hope that England could pull out a performance which would give fans a little less stress than previous outings against Mexico and Norway?

Are we about to see a super-charged England side?

Have your say in our poll below.

Kane: "We have another level we can reach"

England v Argentina (Wed, 20:00 BST)

England

England captain Harry Kane says that his team has "another level we can reach".

Manager Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with the quality of his team's quarter-final performance against Norway, saying England "got lucky" after coming from behind to win 2-1 in extra time.

As his team prepare to face Argentina in a semi-final, Kane says he understands why Tuchel feels frustrated: "When he sees us train and sees the closeness of us and sees what we can do, especially with the players we have, the way we attack, our one-on-ones and the skills, he just wants to see that version of us.

"He knows as much as anyone that it's not as simple as that, we're playing against good opposition and good teams.

"He's trying to drag it out of us and we know ourselves we have another level we can reach.

"We haven't seen that yet, we've shown it in glimpses. Against Norway it was in glimpses. But we haven't had full control that we would like and I feel we can have.

"We'll be playing against one of the best teams in the world in the semi-final, so the most pleasing thing is we are in a semi-final and still feel we can improve.

"But I don't think it is something to get really over the top about. We are showing a lot of good things."

These are unprecedented times for England - enjoy them

England v Argentina (Wed, 20:00 BST)

Dale Johnson

Football issues correspondent

Ten years ago the suggestion that England could become serial contenders in major tournaments would have sounded laughable.

After all, the Three Lions had just been knocked out in the last 16 at Euro 2016 by Iceland.

That came on the back of a dismal World Cup in Brazil where England finished bottom of their group, signing off with a 0-0 draw against Costa Rica for their only point in the tournament.

Spearheaded by the brilliance of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, England now firmly belong in the conversation as potential champions.

Not just this year, but every year.

Since Euro 2016, England have reached at least the semi-finals in four out of five tournaments. We are in unprecedented times.

It is a record only surpassed by Argentina and France, as they have World Cup and Copa America titles to show for it.

After England's nail-biting 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway on Saturday, Argentina - and a first meeting with Lionel Messi - await in the final four.

Even if England fall short once again, this is now a team built to compete rather than enjoy a brief dalliance with success.

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