At the FIFA Extraordinary Congress in December 2024, it was determined that the 2026 World Cup would be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with 48 teams participating for the first time. FIFA also awarded the 2030 World Cup to Spain, Morocco and Portugal, with the opening matches being held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. FIFA also awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. These World Cups are set to have 48 teams participating in the finals.
World Cup, the dream of every team in the world
However, FIFA recently accepted a proposal from the President of the Uruguayan Football Federation, Mr. Ignacio Alonso, with the desire to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup to 64, to create diversity in the 100th anniversary of the World Cup. "This proposal was submitted to the FIFA Council on March 7 (Vietnam time), by one of the co-host countries of the 2030 World Cup. This idea seems very absurd, but has been considered and received cautiously by FIFA", according to AS (Spain).
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that this is a very interesting idea and needs to be analyzed further. Therefore, FIFA will study the feasibility and bring this issue up for discussion at a meeting.
The 48-team World Cup, held in the US, Mexico and Canada next summer, is expected to lose its appeal, as many teams are of varying levels. If it increases to 64 teams, the gap will be even greater. However, FIFA is different. "FIFA wants to bring the opportunity to participate in the World Cup to the rest of world football, creating diversity and promoting the development of world football," AS commented.
Throughout its history, the World Cup has changed from 13 teams, 15 teams and 16 teams. Finally, the number of 16 teams was applied by FIFA from the 1954 to 1978 World Cup, increased to 24 teams from 1982 to 1994, and 32 teams from 1998 to 2022.
According to some of the world's leading economic experts, the reason FIFA supports the idea of increasing the number of teams in each World Cup is because of profit. "The World Cup brings huge profits to FIFA, continuously increasing billions of dollars with each tournament with an increase in the number of teams. Therefore, expanding the World Cup to 64 teams seems impossible, but with FIFA nothing is impossible," an assessment in AS newspaper.
In addition, one benefit of increasing World Cup participation is that it will help make the opportunity to participate in the world football festival of Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia clearer.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-ung-ho-y-tuong-world-cup-co-64-doi-185250307232748201.htm
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