The president of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), Alejandro Domínguez, guaranteed that the commemorative edition of the 2030 World Cup will have the unprecedented participation of 64 countries. This numerical jump represents a significant increase compared to the 48 places already confirmed for the tournament based in North America, marking a bold strategy by the entity to celebrate the first century of existence of the most watched competition on the planet.
The revelation took place on July 21, 2026, through a publication on the manager’s official profile on platform
According to analyzes published by the Spanish newspaper Diario AS, this behind-the-scenes movement points to a drastic, but temporary, change in the structure of the competition. The European press treats the increase in the number of participants as an exclusive maneuver to crown the centenary edition, with no definitive character for the future calendar of the international federation.
The official schedule establishes that the competition will take place between June 8th and July 21st, 2030, with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as the main venues for the entire bracket. The South American nations involved in the project will be exclusively responsible for the inaugural clashes, rescuing the memory of the first cup played on Uruguayan soil in 1930.
Behind the scenes, the South American football leadership has been pressuring FIFA for months to approve the jump from the current 48 teams to the new giant format. In addition to the increase in vacancies, the region’s top players are trying to forge an agreement that allows the three countries on the continent to host a greater number of matches, going beyond the original plan of hosting only the opening duels of the championship.
To calm logistical concerns, the confederation leader made it clear that the idea of an event with 64 teams would only function as an anniversary celebration. In the following edition, scheduled for 2034 in the territory of Saudi Arabia, the regulations would return to the standard of 48 classified, avoiding permanent wear on the calendar of clubs and athletes.
Position of the maximum entity on the swelling of the tournament
Gianni Infantino, current FIFA commander, adopted a cautious tone when stating that the executive committee is still studying the viability of the South American project, without any hammer being struck so far. Despite this diplomatic stance, media outlets around the world are already treating the extraordinary expansion as a practically inevitable scenario for the turn of the decade.
During a conversation with the Swiss portal Bluewin, the top football official explained that the debate is already circulating in technical departments and will gain full force once the 2026 cycle is completed. He defended the thesis that sport needs to embrace all continents equally, breaking the historical hegemony of Europeans and South Americans to allow peripheral nations to also live the dream of the World Cup.
The Swiss executive also argued that global technical leveling justifies the opening of new doors in the sporting scene. In the federation’s view, closing access to developing countries creates a barrier of demotivation, while the real chance of classification works as the greatest fuel for investment in infrastructure and local talent.
Closing the behind-the-scenes reasoning, Diario AS projects that the end of the North American tournament will instantly shift the media’s focus to the complex logistics of 2030. Spanish journalists believe that the blunt statements coming from South America are a clear thermometer that approval of the expanded format is just a matter of time.
Direct reflections for countries seeking an unprecedented vacancy
The mere mention of a championship with 64 participants already moves the planning of federations that appear in the intermediate zone of FIFA’s global ranking. A clear example of this phenomenon is the Vietnam team, which currently occupies ninety-ninth place in the table and sees this regulatory change as a golden opportunity to debut in the competition.
However, the flexibility of the qualifiers will require an immediate leap in technical quality on the part of these emerging teams. To turn the dream into reality, Asians and their continental neighbors will need to raise the tactical level of their squads, as regional competition for the new classification quotas promises to be fierce in the coming years.
As part of this evolution laboratory, the Vietnamese squad focuses its energies on competing in the ASEAN Cup 2026, scheduled for the period between July 24th and August 26th, where they will try to maintain local hegemony. Next, the group led by coach Kim Sang-sik has commitments scheduled for the inaugural edition of the FIFA ASEAN Cup, taking advantage of the international windows of September and October to gain ground.
The testing calendar remains intense at the beginning of 2027, when the team will arrive in Saudi Arabia to face the challenges of the Asian Cup. This entire itinerary of official competitions works as a long-term warm-up, designed precisely so that the country reaches the qualifiers with full strength and is able to grab one of the possible new places in the centenary world cup.
