Fifa is to consider a proposal to expand the 2030 men’s World Cup finals to 64 teams, an adjustment that would mean more than a quarter of its 211 member associations would take part.

The idea was raised at a meeting of the Fifa council on Wednesday as part of any other business. According to reporting in the New York Times, the delegate was Ignacio Alonso, the president of the Uruguayan Football Association. Uruguay will be one of three South American countries to host a “centenary celebration match” in 2030. Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, agreed to explore the idea further.

A Fifa spokesperson told the Guardian it had a duty to consider all requests from council members: “A proposal to analyse 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 held on 5 March 2025. The idea was ­acknowledged as Fifa has a duty to analyse any proposal from one of its council members.”

Infantino has consistently sought to extend and expand the influence of what was already the most coveted prize in sport since he was elected Fifa president in 2016. A proposal to stage the World Cup every two years was abandoned but next year’s World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US will bring an increase from 32 countries to 48, with the number of matches rising from 64 to 104.

Spain, Portugal and Morocco are to act as joint hosts in 2030, with centenary matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The addition of 16 further teams would create substantial logistical challenges for the hosts, not least the duration of the tournament, which would probably run for at least six weeks. Questions over the carbon footprint of such an event would grow larger.

The politics of an expanded World Cup reveal the differing priorities of competing nations and confederations. In South America an increase in participating numbers could in effect mean the end of qualifying rounds, which would in turn hit the resources of national associations who receive revenue from those matches, and as many as half of Uefa’s 55 nations would be expected to qualify. In Asia, Africa and Oceania an expansion of places would probably be received positively, with a number of countries likely to make their World Cup debuts as a result.