UEFA President Criticizes Proposal To Expand 2030 World Cup To 64 Teams

UEFA President Criticizes Proposal To Expand 2030 World Cup To 64 Teams

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin voiced his opposition on Thursday to FIFA’s proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, calling it “a bad idea.”

The 2026 World Cup, set to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will already see the tournament increase from 32 to 48 teams. However, Ignacio Alonso, the head of the Uruguayan Football Federation, suggested further expanding the competition during the FIFA Council meeting in March…READ MORE….

FIFA stated that it would review the proposal, but Ceferin criticized it at UEFA’s congress in Belgrade, expressing his surprise. “It’s a bad idea,” Ceferin stated. “I don’t think it’s good for the World Cup itself, and I don’t think it’s good for our qualifiers.”

Ceferin expressed confusion over the sudden proposal, emphasizing that it was unexpected. “It’s strange that we didn’t know anything about this before the FIFA Council meeting,” he remarked.

The 2030 World Cup is set to be hosted by Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, with three additional matches to be played in South America — Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay — to mark the centenary of the tournament, which began in Uruguay in 1930. This decision also led to Saudi Arabia being awarded the 2034 World Cup.