Concacaf president Victor Montagliani criticized the proposal to pass the male World Cup from 2030 to 64 teams, an initiative carried by the South American Confederation Conmebol.
This idea also arouses great opposition from the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, as well as the Asian football Confederation (AFC).
Scheduled in in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, with opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, the 2030 edition marks the centenary of the tournament, which the Conmebol wishes to celebrate with an extended participation.
The 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada, will already introduce a new formula at 48 teams, against 32 before.
“I do not think that a passage to 64 teams is beneficial for the tournament or for the ecosystem of football in general, whether in terms of national selections, club competitions, leagues or players”Montagliani said in ESPN.
“We haven’t even played the first World Cup at 48 teams yet. Personally, I think it is far too early to consider a new change ”, he added.
The enlargement at 48 teams for 2026 had been validated in 2017 by a unanimous vote during a FIFA congress. The 75th FIFA Congress is scheduled for May 15 in Paraguay, and the Conmebol proposal could be examined there.
If it was accepted, the 2030 World Cup would include 128 games, double the games played in the 64 -game format used between 1998 and 2022.
Last March, Aleksander Ceferin had already described this idea of ”bad”, while the president of the AFC, Cheikh Salman Ben Ibrahim al-Khalifa, had warned against the risk of “chaos”.
