A 64-team World Cup is back on the agenda after some of the most powerful executives in South American football met FIFA on Tuesday to present their proposals for an expanded tournament in 2030.
Next summer's 2026 World Cup will be the biggest ever with 48 teams but that is still not enough for the South American confederation CONMEBOL, who is determined to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the tournament by hosting as many games as possible on its continent four years later.
The first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay and the 2030 tournament is being held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco with three opening matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.
CONMEBOL wants more games and more teams and made their case when president Alejandro Dominguez met his FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino in New York on Tuesday.
FIFA is duty bound to consider proposals and ideas which are put forward by member associations and a 64-team tournament is not something which is a policy priority for the current FIFA administration.
A 64-team World Cup would see almost a third of FIFA's 211 member associations playing in the finals and it would make qualifying little more than a formality for the strongest sides.
The proposal was first raised at the FIFA Council meeting in March by Uruguay FA president Ignacio Alonso.
In May, his confederation president Dominguez said "no one should be left out" of the 2030 World Cup.
The first 24-team World Cup finals was in Spain in 1982, with the tournament expanded to 32 teams at France 98.
