FIFA held talks Tuesday on expanding the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 teams after receiving a pitch from South American leaders.
The delegation, led by CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez, included Paraguay’s president Santiago Pena, Uruguay’s Yamandu Orsi, and football chiefs from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Argentina’s president Javier Milei was absent due to a meeting with Donald Trump.
The proposal, first floated in March by Uruguay’s FA chief Ignacio Alonso, aims to mark the centenary of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. Dominguez described it as a one-off celebration, urging FIFA to “do something the world is waiting for.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino and general secretary Mattias Grafstrom welcomed discussion, though Grafstrom stressed no decisions have been made.
The tournament has steadily grown: 16 teams in 1982, 24 in 1998, and 48 for the 2026 World Cup in North America. A 64-team format would involve nearly a third of FIFA’s 211 members. Critics include UEFA’s Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF’s Victor Montagliani, who argue it would harm competition and devalue qualifiers.
The 2030 edition is already unique: six nations across three continents will host, with opening games in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina before play shifts to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. South America, which last hosted in Brazil 2014, fears minimal involvement could exclude it from future World Cups under FIFA’s rotation rules.
At the New York meetings, Dominguez suggested each South American host a group stage. Videos shared online showed Pena declaring Paraguay “ready to be a protagonist,” while Infantino encouraged leaders to “work together to make history.” FIFA said it has a duty to study all proposals but has not committed to expansion.