LAUSANNE: FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan to expand the World Cup faces a key test from Thursday at a meeting of world football’s top executives.
Infantina wants to expand the tournament to 48 teams, a contentious move that critics say would dilute the quality of World Cup competition and add new fixtures to football’s already packed calendar.
“It is not a secret that I believe in an expansion of the World Cup,” Infantino told AFP last week, opting for a 48-team competition by 2026.
Infantino has floated a proposal that would see the 16 winners of group qualifying rounds automatically book a place in the showcase tournament.
An additional 32 teams would battle it out in a new pre-tournament play-in round, with 16 nations moving on to the World Cup.
Infantino told AFP that for the World Cup proper “the ideal format is 32 teams”, but that would not stop him from seeking to widen opportunities for more countries while boosting revenues from the cash cow tournament.
The powerful 36-member FIFA Council will weigh the idea at the meeting on Thursday and Friday but a final decision will not be made until next year, Infantino said.
