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64 teams in the 2030 World Cup? Pros and cons discussed
🇸🇪 Sweden /Sports

64 teams in the 2030 World Cup? Pros and cons discussed

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Analysis Sources not specified Context piece
  • FIFA is considering expanding the men's World Cup to 64 teams, potentially as early as the 2030 tournament.
  • This expansion would allow more nations to participate, fostering global development and increasing FIFA's commercial reach.
  • A 64-team format would simplify the tournament structure, moving from the current 48-team format with complex tie-breaking rules.

FIFA is actively considering a significant expansion of the men's World Cup, potentially increasing the number of participating teams to 64, with the 2030 tournament being a possible debut for this larger format. This move follows the recent historic expansion to 48 teams for the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has voiced support for the expansion, emphasizing the importance of global inclusivity. "Every nation should be able to dream of participating in the World Cup," Infantino stated in an interview, suggesting that broader participation drives development and incentivizes improvement in smaller footballing nations. This approach also aligns with FIFA's strategy to expand its commercial opportunities into new markets.

The proposed 64-team format would simplify the tournament's structure. Unlike the current 48-team format, which involved complex calculations for advancing third-placed teams and led to lengthy waits for some nations to learn their fate, a 64-team World Cup would feature 16 groups of four teams, with the top two from each group advancing to a 32-team knockout stage. This offers a more straightforward and potentially more engaging experience for both players and fans.

When you organize a World Cup, it is important to organize it for the whole world, not just for Europe or South America.

— Gianni InfantinoFIFA President Gianni Infantino explaining the rationale behind potentially expanding the World Cup to include more nations.

Such an expansion could also impact the hosting of future tournaments. For the 2030 World Cup, which is set to be spread across Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay to mark the tournament's centenary, a larger field might allow South American host nations to stage entire four-team groups rather than just single matches. The implications for the 2034 World Cup, hosted by Saudi Arabia, remain less clear.

While the expansion promises greater global representation and potential development for emerging football nations, some analyses suggest a marginal drop in overall quality compared to a smaller tournament. Data analyst Nate Silver's calculations for a hypothetical 64-team World Cup this year indicated such a possibility, though Infantino argues that the quality of teams worldwide is continuously improving.

Every nation should be able to dream of participating in the World Cup.

— Gianni InfantinoFIFA President Gianni Infantino expressing the desire for broader global participation in the World Cup.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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