Miami (AFP) – The South American proposal for the 2030 World Cup to feature 64 teams has received a serious blow with CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani rejecting the idea. The opposition of Montagliani, who heads the confederation for the 41 member associations in North and Central America and the Caribbean, follows similar stances taken by UEFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“I don’t believe expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players,” Montagliani told ESPN. The World Cup will expand from 32 teams to 48 for the 2026 tournament in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, but CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez recently proposed going to 64 nations for 2030. Dominguez said such a move could be a one-off for the centenary edition of the tournament, which will be hosted in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, but also feature a game in three different South American nations.
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But Montagliani said it was far too early to even be thinking about further expansion. “We haven’t even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don’t think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table,” he said.
On Saturday, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa also expressed opposition. “Personally, I don’t agree,” the Bahraini leader told AFP, adding the 2030 edition had settled on 48 teams “so the matter is settled.”
“If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams, but someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams,” Sheikh Salman said on the sidelines of the 35th AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur. “Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin had called the proposal a “bad idea.” It remains to be seen what stance the FIFA leadership will take on the idea, but secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said the world body would “analyse” the South American proposal.
© 2024 AFP
