FIFA’s Infantino Floats 64-Team World Cup. Here’s What That Would Actually Look Like.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is already looking past the 48-team World Cup that just happened in North America. He’s now teasing the possibility of going even bigger.

In an interview with Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, Infantino said a 64-team tournament is something that could be discussed in FIFA committees after the current World Cup cycle. The idea is simple on paper: give more countries a shot at the biggest stage in sports.

“When you organize a World Cup, it’s important that you organize it for the whole world. It’s not just Europe and South America, but the entire world, effectively,” Infantino said. “Every nation should be able to dream of taking part in the World Cup.”

The 2026 tournament was the first to feature 48 teams after FIFA expanded from 32 back in 2023. That decision added 16 teams and a whole lot of matches. A jump to 64 teams would push the match count from 104 to 128. That’s basically a month and a half of soccer.

The idea first surfaced in March 2025 when South America’s soccer federation CONMEBOL pushed for a 64-team format in 2030. That year matters. It’s the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, and CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez sees it as the perfect moment to go big.

He’s got support from Concacaf president Victor Montagliani. UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin is not on board. He’s called the expansion a “bad idea.”

Infantino didn’t explicitly endorse the 64-team model, but he made it clear he thinks the sport is getting better everywhere. “We can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher everywhere in the world,” he said. “If you don’t give smaller countries the chance to participate in the World Cup, they also lose the incentive to keep improving.”

Infantino has been running FIFA since 2016. He was reelected in 2023 and is up for another vote in 2027. That timeline matters because any decision on a 64-team World Cup would likely land before then. Or it could become a campaign promise.

For now, it’s just talk. But Infantino has a habit of turning talk into reality. The 48-team format seemed like a long shot once too.