Idea of ​​64 teams in 2030 World Cup is opposed

Argentina are the current World Cup champions.

"I don't think expanding the men's World Cup to 64 teams is the right choice for the tournament itself and for our football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, domestic leagues or players," Victor Montagliani, president of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), told The Times.

“We haven't even started the World Cup with 48 teams yet, so personally I think expanding to 64 teams shouldn't be discussed,” he stressed.

Mr. Montagliani's statement took place in the context of the President of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Alejandro Dominguez officially proposing the idea of ​​expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams. The 2030 World Cup is expected to be the most complicated finals ever, when it is held on three continents to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the tournament.

Spain, Portugal and Morocco were the three co-hosts, but they agreed to cede three matches to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (one each) to mark the historic milestone. Uruguay hosted the first tournament in 1930.

Therefore, CONMEBOL believes that the 2030 World Cup should be expanded to 64 teams to create a unique tournament that will only appear once in this century. However, this idea was later strongly opposed by UEFA.

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has said the idea of ​​expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams is “not wise”, while Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has also expressed concerns that the proposal could cause “chaos” to the structure of world football.

CONMEBOL's proposal to increase the number of teams will have to go through a lengthy approval process. Increasing the number of teams also means more matches. The World Cups from 1998 to 2022 had only 64 matches, a number that will increase to 104 in 2026. With 64 teams, a total of 128 matches will be played.

Source: https://znews.vn/y-tuong-64-doi-du-world-cup-2030-bi-phan-doi-post1545912.html