FIFA is already looking into expanding the World Cup to 64 teams

The success of the 48-team format already has FIFA looking into more expansion.

When FIFA decided to expand the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., Mexico and Canada to 48 teams, there was plenty of skepticism that FIFA was diluting its product for an obvious cash grab. Well, FIFA has watched as that 48-team World Cup has been a rousing success with smaller nations showing they can complete with the sport's giants. FIFA could have just taken the win and kept the 48-team format as the standard going forward.

But this is FIFA we're talking about. That's simply not how the organization operates when there is more money to be had. The current 48-team World Cup hasn't even ended yet, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino is already contemplating an expansion to 64 teams (!!!)

in the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco (with opening matches in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay). Infantino told Swiss outlet Bluewin that the organization will begin to explore a possible 64-team expansion: "That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup. When organizing a World Cup, it’s important to organize it for the whole world—not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world.

"Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high—and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving."

And sure, Infantino frames it as opening doors to more nations to be involved. But we all know the real reason is being able to sell more matches to rights holders and bring in more broadcasting money. The U.S. broadcast rights are notably up for bidding after this tournament on Fox and Telemundo.

FIFA expects a multi-billion-dollar deal after awarding the 2026 rights to Fox for well below market value. It's still early, but if FIFA made the move to 64 teams, it would likely mean the addition of four more groups with no third-place teams advancing to a Round of 32 knockout stage. Hard to see FIFA passing up on that.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: FIFA is already looking into expanding the World Cup to 64 teams