On the issue of quality, Gianni Infantino noted that former winners England, captain by Wayne Rooney, and Italy were knocked out of the 2014 finals by lowly Costa Rica. Photo: Reuters
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Fifa boss Gianni Infantino underlines commitment to expand World Cup
Document presented to world governing body’s council offers 10 different possible formats, for varying numbers of teams
Gianni Infantino insists more teams at the tournament would not mean a drop in quality. Photo: AFP
Fifa president Gianni Infantino said on Thursday proposals for a 32, 40 or 48-team World Cup in 2026 were still on the table and a larger tournament would not mean a drop in quality.
Confirming that a decision on the format would be taken in January, he stood by his own idea, first mooted last week, for a 48-team tournament, starting with a play-off round featuring 32 teams in which the 16 losers would go straight home after a single game.
A document presented to the Fifa Council offered 10 different possible formats, for varying numbers of teams.
“There is a positive feeling around the council but the details are still to be elaborated, whether it’s 40 teams, eight groups of five or 10 groups of four, or 48 teams with a play-off at the start,” Infantino said. “This is still very much a work in progress.”
Infantino said the standard of the tournament, which expanded to include 32 countries in 1998 and has remained the same since, would not be affected by having more teams.
“I don’t agree with diluting the quality,” he said. “I would like to remind everyone that in the last World Cup, Italy and England were eliminated by Costa Rica.”
Infantino’s own suggestion, made during a presentation in Bogota last week, was for a play-off round featuring 32 teams, where the losers would go home and the winners would proceed to the group stage, joining 16 teams who would receive a bye.
Critics have questioned whether it would be viable for teams to spend weeks preparing for the tournament and then to travel around the world for a single game, but Infantino said it was.
“Already today, you have play-offs where teams travel from one part of the world to the next and they play home and away in four days,” he said, adding that the play-off would be a “final” for the teams involved.
“It’s certainly an exciting moment for the country and the fans. Look at England, where one of the most followed matches is the promotion play-off [from the second-tier Championship].”
Infantino also said Fifa would take more control over ticketing and organisation at the World Cup from 2022 onwards as he outlined the federation’s strategy for the future, known as “Fifa 2.0”. 
Gianni Infantino said a decision on the number of teams would be made in January. Photo: AFP
He said this was a question of streamlining the administration and did not stem from a lack of trust in local organisers.
“It has nothing to do with trust, it is just to do with efficiency,” he said. “It’s simply about being professional.”
He reiterated his promise, made when he was elected in February, that each of Fifa’s 211 member associations would receive US$1.25 million per year to invest in development.
Another aim was “to increase total participation in football – players, coaches, referees and fans – from 45 to 60 per cent of the global population.”