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This year’s World Cup is finally over – and after 48 teams took part, it was a long, long tournament. But as we bid farewell to the 2026 edition, the competition could be even bigger.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino Said any further extension to the 2030 World Cup – where six countries are set to host the tournament – would now be discussed after the 2026 World Cup ends.
South American countries Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay – who are set to host one game each before the tournament shifts to the main co-hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco – Calling to host more games.
And one solution FIFA is discussing is a 64-team tournament. More teams, more matches, more talking points.
So if the 2030 World Cup celebrates its centenary this summer with 16 more teams than we have, what will it look like?
Six-week tournament!
Fans will have to plan a six-week World Cup tournament once they make it to the 64 teams
The 64-team World Cup would make for one heck of a group stage. There must be 16 groups of four teams, because 64 are not evenly divided into three. That means there will be 96 from 72 matches in the group stage.
Those 72 matches were played over an intense 16-day period in the 48-team tournament – an average of 4.5 matches a day. If FIFA tries to have 4.5 matches a day in the 64-team group stage, the first part of the tournament will take three weeks.
This World Cup will take another three weeks to finish after the Round of 32, meaning a six-week tournament.
And assuming each country has several weeks of pre-tournament preparation, the 1,664 players taking part in the World Cup would have to leave two months for competition.
More goals than ever?
Of course, more games would set a new record for most goals in a tournament. Going from regular 64 matches to 104 matches in 2026 set a new record. 308 goals have been scored in this World Cup compared to 172 goals four years ago.
But what was interesting about the 2026 World Cup was the high rate of goals scored per game. There have been an average of 2.96 goals per game this year, compared to around 2.6 in the past three tournaments.
One reason for the high number of goals in this World Cup is the greater disparity between the best and worst teams. In terms of FIFA world rankings, the average gap between teams in this World Cup was greater than ever before.
And this distinction is important. Sky Sports The data shows that the higher-ranked team’s goal difference in a game increases as the FIFA rank gap widens – although upsets remain common.
No more third place plays
A 64-team tournament allows for one very simple thing: the third-place finisher in the knockout round must be eliminated on the path to qualification.
The only way to get to the Round of 32 in this format is for the top two teams from all 16 groups to qualify for the next stage.
So a rogue calculation of what goal difference Scotland need to qualify as the third-placed team.
If Scotland qualify for the 64-team World Cup in 2030, it could make their knockout chances even more difficult.
However, if only the top two teams in the group qualified, it would revert to the 32-team World Cup format where many of the final group matches were ‘dead rubber’ occasions between teams that had already qualified for the next stage, or teams that had already been eliminated.
FIFA will likely need to keep goal difference above head-to-head record in the 64-team tournament to create enough risk in the third and final round of group matches.
Farewell to ‘one nation host’?
If this becomes a long-term plan from FIFA, a 64-team tournament will effectively ensure that the World Cup can no longer be hosted by an individual nation.
For the current 48-team tournament, 12 groups and 15 stadia are being used for 104 games. Using these numbers as a template, going to 64 teams would mean 20 grounds would be needed for 128 matches.
So if England were to host the tournament, almost the entire Premier League would have to give up their stadiums for the summer, assuming Wembley would also host matches. Imagine Brazil playing at Bournemouth…
True, having multiple host nations is the way forward in international football. 2028 European Championships across the UK and Ireland. Six countries will host the 2030 World Cup. The 2032 European Championships are held in Italy and Turkey.
But Saudi Arabia is the sole host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, and while a 48-team World Cup was considered for the Qatar World Cup in 2022, it was impossible for the Gulf nation to host such a tournament.
Logically, there are question marks if 64 teams is the way forward in the long term.
Who will qualify for a 64-team World Cup?
A 64-team World Cup means 30 percent of all FIFA nations will qualify for the World Cup. But how will the allocation be divided?
With a third of the 48 teams, Europe has the largest allocation of qualification spots in the current tournament system. Applying the same logic would mean that 21 European countries would participate in the 64-team tournament. Maybe Italy will qualify too…
Using the current model as an example, most confederations will get more places at the World Cup.
A rough estimate of confederation allocations using the current FIFA percentage split…
- 21 – Europe
- 12- Africa
- 10 – Asia
- 8 – North, Central America and the Caribbean
- 1 – Oceania
- 8 – South America
- 4 – Play-off spots from different confederations
