ISTANBUL / Ahmed Hassan / Anadolu Agency

Swiss Gianni Infantino, President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), has not ruled out increasing the number of teams participating in future World Cup finals to 64, despite ongoing debate over the feasibility of 48 teams in the current edition.

In an interview with the Swiss website "Bluewin," the FIFA President confirmed that this possibility will be considered soon, stating: "Certainly, this matter will be discussed and debated within the relevant committees after the current World Cup ends."

He continued: "When organizing the World Cup, it is important to design it to include the entire world, not just Europe and South America. Every country should have the right to dream of participating."

He added: "We see that the level of teams is very high and continues to improve around the world. If we do not give small countries the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, they will not have the incentive to continue developing."

Infantino believes that providing more opportunities for emerging national teams is a way to accelerate the development of global football. The 2026 edition, in particular, has given countries such as Curaçao, Haiti, and Cape Verde a chance to appear on the world stage.

He stressed that depriving these countries of the chance to qualify could hinder their sporting progress.

The FIFA President stated: "It has been a resounding success with 48 teams; all teams played at an exceptional level. Teams from all continents scored goals and earned at least one point."

He explained: "Nine out of ten African teams reached the Round of 32 in the current edition. In the previous World Cup, only five African teams participated. This shows how important it is to include all teams and give them this opportunity to participate."

The number of qualified teams increased from 24 to 32 starting from the 1998 World Cup in France, and this system continued until the 2022 edition in Qatar. The current 2026 edition is the first to feature 48 teams.

Morocco, Spain, and Portugal will organize the next edition in 2030, with the first three matches being played in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay—one match per country—to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first edition of the tournament.

Expanding to 64 teams could mean that South American countries would each host a group of four teams instead of a single match, which would further extend the tournament and force FIFA to completely restructure its organization.

Nevertheless, this idea has been completely rejected by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which fundamentally opposes the 48-team system, with its president Aleksander Ceferin calling it a "bad idea."

The President of the Asian Football Confederation, Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, also confirmed that increasing the number of teams would cause major chaos due to the huge number of participants and matches.