PARIS (Reuters) – Soccer’s governing body FIFA is to consider expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to mark the centenary of the sport’s marquee event, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
The 2030 World Cup will be held in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the inaugural edition was staged, set to host three games.
FIFA did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters.
The World Cup has already been expanded from 32 to 48 teams for next year’s edition in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The New York Times said the latest proposal from Ignacio Alonso, a delegate from Uruguay, suggesting expanding the 2030 edition to 64 nations was made at the end of a meeting.
The newspaper, which did not name its sources, said the proposal was met with ‘stunned silence’ by the participants.
It added that according to three people in the meeting, “FIFA was likely to be guided by financial and political benefits as much as sporting ones when it came to taking a decision on the matter.
“(FIFA president) Mr Infantino … described the proposal as an interesting one that should be analysed more closely,” the New York Times added, according to “four people with direct knowledge of the discussions.”
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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