UEFA President Criticizes FIFA’s 64-Team World Cup As ‘Bad Idea

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin stated on Thursday that expanding the World Cup to 64 teams for the 2030 tournament would be “a bad idea.”

The 2026 edition, which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will already see an increase in the number of teams from 32 to 48.

However, Ignacio Alonso, the head of the Uruguayan football federation, proposed further expanding the tournament at the FIFA Council meeting in March.

Football’s global governing body said it “had a duty to analyse” the proposal, which European chief Ceferin denounced at UEFA’s congress in Belgrade.

“It’s maybe even more surprising for me than for you. I think it’s a bad idea,” Ceferin said.

“I think it’s not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it’s not a good idea for our qualifiers as well, as you know.

“So, I’m not supporting that idea. I don’t know where it came from. It’s strange that we didn’t know anything before this proposal at the FIFA Council.”

The 2030 World Cup will be hosted across three continents, with Portugal, Spain, and Morocco serving as the main hosts.

In addition, three matches will be played in South America — in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay — to celebrate the centenary edition, marking the 100th anniversary of the inaugural World Cup, which was held in Uruguay in 1930.

This decision also cleared the way for Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 World Cup.