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Infantino wants 64-team World Cup after "100% success"
SEN • July 13th, 2026 10:45 am
World Cup daily news. We will bring you the latest from around the world as the FIFA World Cup 2026™ gets to the business end (All times AEST).
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is considering a 64-team World Cup in future after a "100% success rate".
The 2026 edition was the first World Cup with an increased 48 teams and now we could be headed for even more and as early as 2030.
it would represent tournaments double the size of those in the more recent past.
“This World Cup has 100 per cent been a huge success with 48 teams,” Infantino said.
“Nine out of ten African teams reached the knockout stage. At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa.
“That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.
“Increasing to 64 is definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup.
“When you are organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world.
“Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high – and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world.
“If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Teams like Cape Verde and Curacao won over the fans during their 2026 campaigns, especially the Cape Verdeans who ran Argentina all the way in the Round of 32.
RIGGED CHAT CONTINUES
Switzerland players have hit out at World Cup referees after their tournament was ended by Argentina.
The defending champions claimed a 3-1 victory in extra time to secure a semi-final berth against England, but the match was not without controversy.
Breel Embolo was shown a yellow card for alleged diving - and it was his second yellow meaning his side went down to 10 men.
“It’s completely not understandable,” Switzerland’s head coach, Murat Yakin, said of the referees after the game. “I know that they will protect their referee but this rule destroyed the game today.
“First of all, there was definitely no reason to award that yellow card. I don’t understand it, it was a harmless situation.
"We were dominant. We controlled the game. But the red card, we are punished because of a rule that is, to me, absolutely incomprehensible. Of course it hurts enormously that we were eliminated in this way. We didn't deserve that today."
Manuel Akanji added: “When you have the referee against you, it becomes difficult. Every little thing was called against us.
“Every dive and every foul by the Argentinians went unpunished. I don’t usually say anything against the officials, but I’ve never experienced such a one-sided game as today.
“As soon as the game was over, I thought: ‘I’m so proud of our team.’
“What we’ve achieved throughout the entire tournament, and especially today.
“We played against the world champions, and they didn’t stand a chance.
“I can’t recall a single scoring opportunity from open play where we were lucky.
“If the game had continued 11 against 11, it would have likely gone in our favour.”
Another coach sacked
Senegal have sacked coach Pape Thiaw with Arsenal hero Patrick Viera set to replace him.
The team lost their opening two clashes against France and Norway before securing a 5-0 win over Iraq.
They then lost their round of 32 against Belgium.
They then lost their round of 32 against Belgium.
A press conference has been scheduled for Monday (local time) when the future of the team will be discussed.
