Gianni Infantino’s decade at the top of FIFA has been defined by expansion, scale and a willingness to test football’s boundaries. BBC Sport’s latest discussion asks whether that approach could extend to a 64-team World Cup, a proposal that would again reshape the sport’s biggest tournament if it ever moved beyond speculation.
The idea matters because the World Cup is not just a competition; it is football’s global reference point, the event that drives revenue, visibility and political influence across the game. Any move to enlarge it further would affect qualification pathways, tournament logistics, player workload and the balance between sporting merit and commercial growth.
What a 64-team World Cup would change
A larger finals would almost certainly create more places for nations that have historically struggled to reach the tournament, which would be welcomed by many associations seeking greater access to the global stage. For supporters in emerging football markets, that could mean more realistic hopes of seeing their country at the World Cup and more meaningful investment in the game at home.
At the same time, expansion raises obvious questions about quality and congestion. The World Cup already stretches the calendar, and adding more teams would likely mean more matches, more travel and more strain on players who are already operating in an overloaded season. That is where the debate becomes more than political: it becomes a test of how much football the calendar can absorb before standards begin to suffer.
Why Infantino’s influence matters
The BBC piece places the discussion in the broader context of Infantino’s leadership style. Under his presidency, FIFA has repeatedly shown a preference for bigger tournaments and broader participation, and that history is why the 64-team idea cannot be dismissed as idle chatter. Even if the proposal is not imminent, the fact it is being discussed at all tells supporters something important about where FIFA’s priorities may lie.
For fans, the issue is not simply whether more countries should be included. It is whether the World Cup can keep its competitive edge while continuing to expand. That tension sits at the heart of modern international football: the desire to grow the game globally versus the need to protect the tournament’s prestige and rhythm.
BBC Sport’s framing suggests this is a conversation likely to continue, especially if FIFA’s leadership remains committed to enlargement as a guiding principle. For now, the 64-team World Cup remains a question rather than a confirmed plan, but it is a question with major implications for every level of the game.
Source note: This article was prepared using publicly available information from BBC Sport and expanded with editorial context.
Share this content:
