FIFA double down on plans to expand World Cup as South America give proposal support

The 2026 World Cup came to an end on Sunday as Spain prevailed against a resolute Argentina to get their hands on the trophy.

Although the 2026 tournament has just concluded, plans for the next one in 2030 are already unfolding.

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Morocco, Spain and Portugal will primarily host the 2030 tournament, but there will be three centenary games held across Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

This means six nations automatically qualify for the 2030 tournament amid the ever-growing expansion of the World Cup format.

The 2026 tournament was the first 48-team World Cup and the 2030 competition could grow even further to 64 teams.

FIFA vice president shares 64-team 2030 World Cup plan

FIFA president Gianni Infantino received a lot of criticism this summer for giving in to the demands of those with a lot of power.

Football is changing right in front of the eyes of the fans and there is very little being done to stop these changes from unfolding.

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Ahead of the 2030 tournament, FIFA vice president and president of Conmebol Alejandro Dominguez has issued his plans for the upcoming tournament.

"In 2030, the World Cup comes to Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, a great opportunity for football, to celebrate the World Cup Centenary with a 64-team tournament," said Dominguez on X.

"We are working to ensure that the 2030 World Cup is held with 64 national teams in homage to the World Cup centenary.

"International football grows when it opens up to the world. The expansion to 48 teams demonstrated that greater participation generates more opportunities, boosts the development of football, and turns the World Cup into a true global celebration."

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Although there may be some truth in what he has said, there will still be plenty of fans across the world who will disagree with the notion of expanding the competition even further.

Some may well feel that introducing a 64-team tournament will only prolong the tournament and eat into the domestic campaigns even further.

There is also a danger of creating so many games that there will also be a lot of games where there is very little competitiveness due to the ability of the nations now able to qualify for the tournament.

Take Iraq, for example, who lost all three of their games this summer. If the tournament expands further there could be sides even worse than Iraq to qualify.

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