Latest news with #UruguayanFootballAssociation
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
South America proposes expanding 2030 World Cup to 64 teams
South American football governing body Conmebol has formally proposed expanding the 2030 World Cup to include 64 teams. The concept was first informally and 'spontaneously' suggested by Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association, at the end of a Fifa council meeting last month. Fifa acknowledged the idea as it does any proposal by a member. Now Conmebol has submitted an official proposal to mark the centennial of the World Cup, which was first won by Uruguay, by expanding the tournament even further. 'This will allow all countries to have the opportunity to live the world experience and so nobody on the planet is left out of the party,' Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez said at the body's congress on Thursday. 'We are convinced that the centennial celebration will be unique because 100 years are celebrated only once.' The 2026 World Cup has already expanded beyond the standard format, to 48 teams, with a move to 64 teams meaning the 2030 edition would feature 128 matches. The 2026 tournament, which will be held across the USA, Canada and Mexico, will include 104 matches up from the current 64. It would also include over a quarter of Fifa's 211 member nations, with critics saying a further expansion would devalue the quality of games. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has been among those to describe the proposal as a 'bad idea'. The centennial celebration of the World Cup is already a sprawling affair, taking place on three continents and with concerns raised at the environmental impact of the tournament. Spain, Portugal and Morocco are confirmed hosts and matches will also take place in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to mark the anniversary.
The Independent
07-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Fifa to consider expanding 2030 World Cup to 64 teams
Fifa will consider expanding the World Cup in 2030 to a 64-team tournament, following a proposal made at a meeting of the governing body on Wednesday. The New York Times reports that Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association, made the proposal at the end of a Fifa council meeting. Fifa president Gianni Infantino was reportedly interested in the idea. A Fifa spokesperson told The Guardian, 'A proposal to analyse a 64-team Fifa World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the Fifa World Cup in 2030 was spontaneously raised by a Fifa council member in the 'miscellaneous' agenda item near the end of the Fifa council meeting held on 5 March 2025. 'The idea was acknowledged as Fifa has a duty to analyse any proposal from one of its council members.' The World Cup will already expand once this decade, from 32 teams to 48 at next year's edition, held in Mexico, Canada and the US. The 2026 tournament will feature 104 matches, up from the current 64. Infantino has made tinkering with the World Cup something of a hallmark of his presidency, although a proposed change from the tournament taking place every four years to every two was shelved due to widespread outcry. Earlier this week, Infantino announced that next year's edition will involve a Super Bowl-style half-time show, in another break with tradition. Expanding what some say has already become a bloated and unwieldy competition to 64 teams would involve more than a quarter of Fifa's 211 member associations, and present further logistical challenges to the six host countries in 2030. The 2030 tournament, the centenary of the first World Cup, will be spread across three continents, raising concerns over the environmental impact of the event.
