Alejandro Dominguez, the president of the South American Football Manager Conmebol, wants the 2030 male World Cup to be temporarily extended to 64 teams.
The idea was proposed for the first time by the head of Uruguayan football Ignacio Alonso at a meeting of the FIFA council last month, before the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin rejects the proposal as a “bad idea”.
The 2030 World Cup will be the edition of the centenary of the tournament, the first competition which took place in Uruguay in 1930.
1930 welcomes Uruguay, winner in 2022, Argentina and Paraguay – the Maison des Offices de Conmebol – should currently host a match each at the start of the 2030 tournament, with the remaining 101 games in the 48 team tournament between Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
“We are convinced that the celebration of the centenary will be unique, because 100 years only occur once,” said Dominguez at the Congress of Conmebol on Thursday.
“And that is why we offer, for the only time, to hold this anniversary with 64 teams, on three continents simultaneously. In order for all countries to have the opportunity to live a global experience, and so that no one on this planet is excluded from this celebration which, even if it is played everywhere, is our party.”
FIFA told the New York Times in March that the proposal of 64 teams “had been spontaneously raised by a member of the FIFA council in the” various “point of day to the end” of their meeting.
The 2026 World Cup, which will be held across the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the first edition of 48 teams in the tournament, an increase compared to 32 team format than that from 1998 to 2022.
Seven of the 10 CONMEBOL nations are guaranteed places in a tournament of 48 teams, with 16 spaces available for the 55 UEFA member countries.
Last month, the president of the European football director, Ceferin, said about the idea of a competition of 64 teams: “I think it’s a bad idea – it is not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it is not a good idea for our qualifications either.”
(Yuki Iwamura / AFP via Getty Images)
