Gianni Infantino 'has backing' for expanded World Cup Finals
Wednesday 28 December 2016 11:50, UK
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has told a sports conference in the Middle East that football's federations are in favour of expanding the World Cup Finals ahead of the 2026 event.
Infantino, who replaced Sepp Blatter as head of the world game earlier this year, wants to increase the number of teams competing at the final stages from 32 to 48.
And, speaking in Dubai, he stressed that future tournaments could be staged over the same time-frame, regardless of whether 32 or 48 nations were taking part.
The 46-year-old's preferred suggestion is to have 16 groups of three, to be reduced to 32 teams after the opening round-robin phase.
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When he was first elected to the post in February, the Swiss-born official promised to expand the tournament to 40 nations, before adding another eight later on.
Infantino said on Wednesday: "I am still convinced to expand the participation in the World Cup to more than 32 teams.
"We would still consider to increase the competition to 40 or 48 teams. A tournament to 48 teams would have the same period as the current one, and federations are clearly in favour of a World Cup with more teams."
FIFA's next council meeting takes place in Zurich on January 9, when the subject of changing the format of the World Cup Finals is likely to be discussed in more detail.
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