FIFA president open to expanding the World Cup to 64 teams.
Dubai: FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said he is open to considering a further expansion of the World Cup to 64 teams after the 2026 edition.
The 2026 tournament, being held across the United States, Canada and Mexico, already features a record 48 nations — the largest field in the competition’s history — marking a significant increase from the previous 32-team format.
A further expansion of the tournament could create new opportunities for emerging football nations such as the UAE, which narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. A 64-team format would provide more countries with a realistic pathway to football’s biggest stage.
Despite initial criticism of the decision to expand the tournament to 48 teams, Infantino believes the new format has been a success and has indicated FIFA is willing to examine how a 64-team World Cup could be implemented.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to do so for the entire world — not just Europe and South America. Every nation should have the opportunity to dream of playing at the World Cup,” Infantino said.
“You can see that the quality of teams is extremely high, and it continues to improve around the world. If smaller nations are not given the opportunity to compete at the World Cup, they may lack the incentive to continue developing.
“These are all matters that we will examine after the World Cup,” Infantino said.
UAE continue to show signs of progress
The UAE’s performances during the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign highlighted the nation’s continued development and growing competitiveness on the international stage.
By reaching the final phase of Asian qualifying, the UAE came closer to returning to the World Cup than at any point since their historic appearance at Italia 1990, underlining the team’s growing competitiveness against some of the continent’s strongest sides.
While qualification ultimately remained out of reach, the campaign highlighted the progress of Emirati football and showed how nations just below the traditional elite could benefit from a larger World Cup format.
Opening the door to new success stories
An expanded tournament would create opportunities for emerging football nations to make history, providing more teams with the chance to compete on the global stage and potentially produce unexpected success stories.
One of the biggest advantages of an expanded World Cup is the opportunity it provides for emerging football nations to compete on the sport’s biggest stage.
Beyond simply increasing participation, a larger tournament could better reflect football’s global growth by giving countries that have traditionally struggled to qualify the chance to challenge the world’s top teams.
The latest tournament has already shown how greater access can create compelling stories while helping to raise the level of competition across different regions.
African football, in particular, demonstrated the value of greater representation. Nine of the continent’s ten representatives progressed to the knockout stages, underlining the growing depth and quality within African football.
Among the standout performers were Cape Verde, whose remarkable campaign captured the attention of fans worldwide. Making their World Cup debut, the island nation advanced beyond the group stage before pushing Argentina in a dramatic 3-2 Round of 32 defeat, showing that emerging nations can compete with the world’s best rather than simply participate.
Rather than weakening the competition, the latest World Cup suggested that expansion can add greater diversity, excitement and competitive balance to the tournament.
