Concacaf president joins chorus opposing 2030 World Cup expansion to 64 teams
The controversial proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams has been criticised by several continental federations, with both the Concacaf and Asian Football Confederation presidents opposing the move.
South American governing body Conmebol formally proposed the expansion last week, lending momentum to an idea that was initially suggested at a Fifa council meeting last month by Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association.
Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez officially backed the idea at the federation's congress on Thursday, saying the expansion would ensure 'nobody on the planet is left out of the party.'
But the suggestion has been criticised by several other bodies in world football.
ESPN reported that Victor Montagliani, president of Concacaf - which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean - said: 'I don't believe expanding the men's World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players.'
'We haven't even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don't think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table.'
The 2026 World Cup, which will be held across the US, Canada and Mexico, will be the first to expand to 48 teams from the existing model of 32. The decision to increase the number of teams in the tournament was made following a unanimous vote at a Fifa congress in 2017.
Any further expansion to 64 teams would mean the 2030 edition would involve 128 matches, double the number contested under the format viewers are familiar with. The 2026 tournament will feature 104 matches played out across 16 host cities.
The 2030 edition already faces a number of logistical challenges due to its sprawling nature across three continents. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are designated hosts but Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina will all host opening matches to mark the centenary of the tournament, which was first hosted and won by Uruguay.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said the 64-team idea risked the World Cup descending into 'chaos'.
'If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams,' he said at the 35th AFC Congress.
'But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos.'
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, who is also a Fifa vice president, was another to criticise the proposal. He said: 'It is not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it's not a good idea for our qualifiers as well.'
He also queried the sudden nature of the original suggestion: 'I don't know where it came from but it's strange that we didn't know anything before this proposal at the FIFA Council.'
Fifa has yet to comment on the merit of the idea but said following the original suggestion that it was obliged to consider it. The proposal may be discussed at Fifa's upcoming 75th Congress, which will be held in Asuncion, Paraguay on 15 May.
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