64-team World Cup? FIFA considering bold South American proposal for 2030

FIFA is looking at a surprise proposal from South American soccer to expand the men's 2030 World Cup to 64 teams — double the size of the 2022 edition in Qatar.

"A proposal to analyze a 64-team FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup in 2030 was spontaneously raised by a FIFA Council member in the ‘miscellaneous' agenda item near the end of the FIFA Council meeting," soccer's governing body said Thursday, one day after the meeting.

"The idea was acknowledged as FIFA has a duty to analyze any proposal from one of its Council members," FIFA said about the remote online meeting.

It was suggested by the elected delegate from Uruguay, Ignacio Alonso, two people familiar with the move told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was confidential.

Uruguay was the original World Cup host — and trophy winner — in 1930 and is scheduled to host one game at the centenary tournament.

The first 48-team tournament will be played next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The 2030 World Cup is already set to be the most sprawling edition with six host nations spread across three continents.

South American soccer body CONMEBOL agreed in 2023 to a FIFA-backed plan for Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to have one game each to open the tournament before it moves to the main co-hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

FIFA gave all six hosts automatic places in the tournament lineup and the deal was seen as a win in soccer politics for CONMEBOL's Paraguayan president Alejandro Dominguez.

Expanding to 64 teams likely would guarantee all 10 CONMEBOL member countries a place in a bigger tournament. Venezuela is the only one that has never qualified for a World Cup.

Having 64