| FIFA is considering expanding the World Cup from 32
teams to 40 in 2026 and will discuss the proposal at a
future meeting, with support particularly strong among
Asian and African representatives.
No formal agreement on the matter was reached at FIFA’s
Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, but ExCo
member Wolfgang Niersbach said it will be discussed at a
later date.
“No decision was taken on expanding the World Cup to 40
teams from 2026,” Niersbach said in a written
statement. “The Asian and African representatives on the
executive committee were in favour of it. This matter has
been put off until a future meeting.” The debate on
extending the World Cup came as a corruption scandal
engulfing the organisation widened with fresh arrests.
The World Cup had been a 16-team competition before
being expanded to 24 nations in 1982 and then to 32 for
the first time in France in 1998. The bidding process for
the 2026 World Cup was postponed in June due to the
corruption scandal which has centred around the
attribution of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022
finals to Qatar.
Two leading FIFA officials — Alfredo Hawit, the Honduran
head of the Confederation of North, Central American and
Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and South
American Football Confederation chief Juan Angel Napout
— were arrested on Thursday in a dramatic dawn raid |
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