FIFA to Consider One-Off Expansion to 64 Teams for 2030 World Cup

FIFA to Consider One-Off Expansion to 64 Teams for 2030 World Cup
General view of the World Cup trophy during the closing ceremony of the World Cup final soccer match between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium, Qatar, on Dec. 18, 2022. Hannah Mckay/Reuters
Reuters
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PARIS—Soccer’s governing body FIFA will review a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to mark the centenary of the sport’s marquee event, it said on Thursday.

The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, where the inaugural edition was staged, set to host three games.

The World Cup has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for next year’s edition in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

“A proposal to analyse a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030 was spontaneously raised by a FIFA Council member in the ’miscellaneous’ agenda item near the end of the FIFA Council meeting held on March 5 2025,” a FIFA spokesperson told Reuters.

“The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyse any proposal from one of its Council members.”