Goodbye 2026, hello 2030
New York, July 20 (EFE)
The conclusion of the 2026 World Cup, with the Spanish national team crowned champion, gives way to preparations for the 2030 World Cup. It is known that three countries—Spain, Portugal, and Morocco—will once again host the tournament, along with three matches in South America. However, the format and the location of the final, among other things, are still unconfirmed.
It will be another special tournament. The first to be organized by countries from three different confederations (UEFA, CAF, and CONMEBOL), across three continents, and the first transoceanic one. To commemorate the centenary of the tournament, which began in 1930 in Montevideo, FIFA decided to hold three opening matches in Argentina and Uruguay, finalists of the first edition, plus Paraguay, the host of CONMEBOL.
Initially, the plan was to extend the 2026 format, with 48 teams and 104 matches, but last week, Gianni Infantino himself suggested that the World Cup could be expanded again to 64 teams, 16 more than the recently concluded tournament, which itself saw the expansion from 32 to 48 teams.
The idea, spearheaded by CONMEBOL President Alejandro Domínguez, is that the Centenary World Cup cannot be a standard tournament, but rather should allow as many teams as possible to participate.
With 64 teams, the format would also be simpler, as the top two teams from each of the 16 groups would advance directly to the Round of 32, eliminating the need for the algorithm to resolve the 495 possible scenarios used to determine the eight best third-place finishers in this edition.
Gianni Infantino, who had never spoken clearly on the matter, did leave the door open to discussion, as he explained this week in an interview with the Swiss media outlet Blue News.
“When organizing a World Cup, it’s important to organize it for the whole world, not just for Europe and South America. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup,” he said.
Infantino cites the positive image of teams that were not regulars at the World Cup, such as Cape Verde, Egypt, and Congo, and that have competed against powerhouses like Spain, Argentina, and England.
“Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. We have seen that the quality of the teams is extremely high and is increasing all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, you will block their incentive to keep improving,” he said.
The format is not the only debate that the 2030 World Cup has to address, because it is still undecided who will host the final. Spain believes it should host the event, but Morocco, which is building a stadium in Casablanca with a capacity of 115,000 spectators, the largest in the world, is also vying for the final match.
