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Doha – South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL has officially proposed expanding the 2030 FIFA World Cup temporarily to 64 teams, a move that has already faced strong opposition from UEFA.
CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez presented the proposal during the organization’s 80th Ordinary Congress on Thursday, stressing the historical significance of the tournament’s centenary.
“We are convinced that the centennial celebration will be unique, because 100 years only happen once,” Dominguez stated.
The proposal would double the number of matches from the 64-game format used between 1998 and 2022, resulting in 128 games.
The 2030 World Cup is already set to make history as the first tournament spread across three continents, with games divided between six host nations: Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay.
The expansion idea was initially introduced by Uruguayan football official Ignacio Alonso during a FIFA Council meeting in March.
FIFA confirmed to the New York Times that the proposal “was spontaneously raised by a FIFA Council member in the ‘miscellaneous’ agenda item near the end” of their meeting.
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However, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has strongly rejected the proposal. “I think it’s a bad idea — it’s not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it’s not a good idea for our qualifiers as well,” Ceferin stated.
He expressed surprise at the proposal’s introduction, noting, “I don’t know where it came from, but it’s strange that we didn’t know anything before this proposal at the FIFA council.”
The proposed expansion would likely benefit CONMEBOL members, potentially guaranteeing spots for all ten South American countries.
Currently, seven of CONMEBOL’s ten nations are guaranteed spots in the 48-team format, while UEFA has 16 spaces allocated for its 55 member nations.
The 2026 World Cup, to be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will herald an unprecedented transformation in the tournament’s structure, expanding from 32 to 48 teams. From 1998 to 2022, the World Cup featured 32 teams in each edition.
Critics of the 64-team proposal argue it would diminish the quality of play and devalue the continental qualifying programs.
In response, Dominguez defended the proposal by highlighting the need for the World Cup to be more inclusive. “We are proposing, for the first time, to hold this anniversary with 64 teams, on three continents simultaneously, so that all countries have the opportunity to live a global experience, and so that no one on this planet is left out of this celebration,” he explained.
The 2030 tournament holds particular significance as it marks 100 years since the first World Cup, hosted by Uruguay in 1930.
Under current plans, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay are scheduled to host one match each at the start of the tournament, with the remaining 101 games split between Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.
