Gianni Infantino said FIFA is open to the possibility of a 64-team World Cup in 2030. (AP Photo)After the success of the 48-team World Cup, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has already raised expansion talks, wanting to go up to 64 teams as early as the 2030 World Cup. The Swiss lawyer said the tournament should be “for the whole world,” but admitted that discussing the topic right now would be premature.“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport.Infantino emphasised the importance of the World Cup being open to as many nations as possible, and not just the best from Europe and South America. “When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world.” He added, “every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.”After the surprise performances of island nation Cape Verde, who went unbeaten in the group stage against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, it is hard to ignore the rise in quality among smaller countries. “You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world.”ALSO READ | Olise, Yamal, Cubarsi and a semi-final that previews football’s next decadeInfantino said expanding the edition would give more such countries hope and, “If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”Infantino deemed the first 48-team World Cup a “huge success,” pointing to the fact that nine out of ten African teams successfully advanced to the knockout rounds, though only two, Morocco and Egypt, progressed to the round of 16. Morocco was once again the African nation that went furthest, the quarter-finals, but met the same fate as 2022 as they got eliminated by France.Story continues below this adInfantino cited the smaller number of African nations last time around in 2022 as an added incentive to expand. “At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”The 2030 World Cup will be primarily co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. To mark the tournament’s centenary, the three opening matches are scheduled to take place in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, honoring Uruguay as the host of the inaugural competition in 1930.Although CONMEBOL, the South American governing body, submitted a formal proposal in April 2025 to increase the tournament size to 64 teams, a final decision has yet to be reached.