Federation Internationale de Football Association president Gianni Infantino has said before that he thinks the World Cup should be expanded to 40 teams and he still believes that’s the case.
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Infantino also said he would be happy for several countries to share the hosting of the World Cup, describing it as much a “social event for the whole world” as a global sporting competition.
Changes can’t be made until the 2026 World Cup because the 2018 and 2022 events have hosts who are already working on how to host the event with 32 teams, but the bidding process for 2026 has yet to begin and guidelines for the tournament have not yet been set. More nations competing in three separate countries? We will see, but it’s true that CONCACAF did not have the World Cup for a long time.
The World Cup has been hosted by multiple countries before.
Asked about a potential U.S. -Canada-Mexico project, Infantino says: “There is, I would say, no limit to whatever is good for football”. In 2002, Japan and South Korea shared hosting duties for the World Cup.
“For the moment, everything is open, but there is a question of who can and cannot bid, we will see”.
While at Uefa, Infantino also helped oversee an expanded Euro 2016 with 24 teams for the first time instead of the previous 16-team format.
“We need to realise that these kinds of events, like the World Cup or European Championship, are more than just a competition, they are really social events for the whole world”. A host will be announced in 2020. “We will have to discuss it and see what’s the best for football”, he told reporters from worldwide news agencies on Tuesday.
By the time 2026 comes around, the soccer outlook in the United States alone will have grown up in a big way since 1994, even if the men’s national team is still a perennial underdog in the tournament.
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Many are saying that, regardless of whether the tournament is co-hosted or not, it’s likely the next World Cup bid could go to North America.
