South America offers a unique world cup of 64 teams in 2030 | Football news

The president of CONMEBOL makes the official FIFA proposal to extend the 2030 male World Cup on the continent to 64 teams.

Alejandro Dominguez, the president of the South American football leader Conmebol, made an official proposal to extend the 2030 male world cup to 64 teams.

The proposal was presented for the first time last month by a delegate from Uruguay at an online meeting of the FIFA ruling council chaired by its president, Gianni Infantino, who had Europe officials warned.

“We are convinced that the celebration of the centenary will be unique because 100 years are only celebrated once,” said Dominguez during his opening speech at the 80th Congress of Conmebol.

The 2030 World Cup should already be the largest edition with six host nations spread over three continents.

Uruguay was the host of the original World Cup in 1930 and should stage a match. Paraguay, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are also co-animators.

“This is why we offer, for the first time, to hold this anniversary with 64 teams, on three continents simultaneously,” added Dominguez.

There were 32 2022 World Cup teams in Qatar. This number will be extended to 48 during the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The extent to 64 teams would probably guarantee that the 10 member countries of Conmebol a place in a larger tournament. Venezuela is the only one that has never qualified for a World Cup.

“This will allow all countries to have the opportunity to live the global experience and therefore no one on the planet is excluded from the party,” added Dominguez.

If FIFA approves the move, this would create a 128 game tournament, doubles the 64 -game format issue played from 1998 to 2022.

Infantino has always put pressure for larger and new tournaments in its presidency since 2016, seeking more income to give the 211 federations of FIFA members and more likely for their national teams to qualify.

However, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin qualified a 64 -team “bad idea” World Cup.

Critics of the 64 team’s proposal argued that it would weaken the quality of the game and devalue the qualification program in most continents.