FIFA supports the idea of ​​a 64-team World Cup.

At an extraordinary FIFA congress in December 2024, the 2026 World Cup was determined to take place in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, with 48 teams participating for the first time. FIFA also awarded the hosting rights for the 2030 World Cup to Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, with the opening matches held in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. FIFA also awarded the hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. These World Cups are also guaranteed to have 48 teams participating in the final tournament.

The World Cup trophy, the dream of every national team in the world.

However, FIFA recently accepted a proposal from the President of the Uruguayan Football Federation, Ignacio Alonso, to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup finals to 64, in order to create more diversity in the 100th anniversary of the World Cup. "This proposal was submitted to the FIFA Council on March 7th (Vietnam time) by one of the countries co-hosting the 2030 World Cup. This idea, which seemed far-fetched at first, has been carefully considered and received by FIFA," according to the Spanish newspaper AS .

FIFA President Gianni Infantino believes this is a very interesting idea and needs further analysis. Therefore, FIFA will study its feasibility and bring the matter up for discussion at a meeting.

The World Cup finals, with 48 teams, to be held in the US, Mexico, and Canada next summer, are predicted to lose their appeal due to the significant differences in skill levels among the teams. If it were increased to 64 teams, this disparity would be even greater. However, FIFA sees it differently. "FIFA wants to give the rest of the football world the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, creating diversity and promoting the development of world football," AS newspaper commented.

Throughout its history, the World Cup final tournament has varied in size, from 13 teams, 15 teams, and 16 teams. Ultimately, FIFA adopted the 16-team format from the 1954 to 1978 World Cups, increasing it to 24 teams from 1982 to 1994, and 32 teams from 1998 to 2022.

According to some of the world's leading economists , FIFA supports the idea of ​​increasing the number of teams in each World Cup because of its profitability. "The World Cup generates enormous profits for FIFA, consistently increasing by billions of dollars with each tournament as the number of teams increases. Therefore, expanding the World Cup to 64 teams seems impossible, but for FIFA, nothing is impossible," one assessment in the newspaper AS stated .

Furthermore, one benefit of increasing the number of World Cup qualifying spots is that it will make the chances of Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia participating in the world's biggest football tournament clearer.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-ung-ho-y-tuong-world-cup-co-64-doi-185250307232748201.htm