14/07/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | JULY 14, 2026

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2026 WORLD CUP

Bigger WC beckons Fifa president Infantino says discussions over expanding the tournament to 64 teams will begin after the 2026 final

A NY further expansion of the World Cup, increasing the number of teams partici pating at the finals to 64, will be dis cussed after this year’s edition, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said without provid ing any details. The 2026 finals in Canada, Mexico, and the United States have seen 48 teams for the first time, a decision that was heavily criticised but which has not provoked much debate since the tournament kicked off on June 11. “These are all issues that we will be examin ing after the World Cup,” Infantino, who suc cessfully pushed for the expansion of the finals from 32 teams, told Swiss television outlet Blue Sport . He did not elaborate, saying only: “I think it is important that when you want to organise a World Cup, you do 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.” Infantino hailed the 48-team tournament as a success, saying: “Every team played at a high level. Teams from every continent scored goals and earned at least one point. “Nine out of 10 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,” he added. The size of the World Cup field was increased to 32 teams in 1998. The next finals in 2030 are to

Another said: “World Cup should be 32 teams. Eight groups of four, every game with something on the line, no dead rubbers, no group-of-three she nanigans – quality over quantity. Forty-eight was already a stretch. Sixty four would turn the greatest tournament on earth into a marathon of mismatches.” However, on the contrary, someone else said: “64 would likely be played in the same time

secondary market – which is perfectly legal here – for four or five times the original cost.” Infantino said he expected Fifa to generate a total of 13 to 14 billion Swiss francs (RM65.5b to RM70.5b) from the 39-day World Cup. “That is quite satisfactory,” he said. Football fans are split on the latest talk of an expansion to the World Cup. One user on X asked: “Why stop at 64? “Just invite all 211 Fifa nations. Let’s

be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain, and the 2034 tournament will be in Saudi Arabia. Infantino, who rarely gives media interviews and has limited his number of formal press con ferences, admitted that introducing hydration breaks during each half, which many have seen as a cynical attempt to help television partners get more advertising revenue, had proved con troversial. “This is a topic that sparks a lot of debate. After all, we don’t want to get everything perfect; we like to give everyone something to disagree with … no, joking aside. Last year, during the Club World Cup in the USA, there were cooling breaks whenever it was very hot. “These short breaks occurred in about 60% of the matches but not in the other 40% because the temperature wasn’t as high. There were many complaints, as the feeling was that all teams should face the same conditions,” he said. He also defended the high ticket prices at the World Cup, saying: “The stadiums are full; capacity utilisation is at 99.7% and it will likely reach 99.9% by the end. “Experts determined the ticket prices before the tournament. Our experts worked on that and told us: ‘These are the prices you can go with.’ We see the proof now: prices that some people claimed were too high are being resold on the

frame, add zero games per team, and the qual ity of team 33-48 at this tournament is clearly not lacking. Oh, and the format is cleaner. 64 is a win for every one, whether they know

have a nine-month World Cup hosted across 45 different countries. Think of the broadcast revenue! Who cares if the play ers’ legs literally snap in half by December as long as Fifa executives get their yacht money? Games gone.”

it or not.” – Reuters/ Express Newspapers

Gianni Infantino

Factory of dreams, Dallas fuels US hopes

Dallas area consistently pro duces the country’s best play ers. “Sports are a big deal in Texas,” he said. “Families are willing to invest, spend the time and effort to do it. We have the climate for it too, even though it gets hot. Hunt is confident the system that produced McKennie and company has received a fur ther boost from hosting the World Cup and can continue to develop players at all levels. FC Dallas experienced growth in their youth teams by around 10% in 2025 with a fur ther uptick of at least 7% expected this year as the impact of the World Cup drives interest in the sport. The hosting of the tourna ment also led to work starting on the redevelopment of the club’s Toyota Stadium, which was used as a training base by Sweden. “You hope that this inspires the American Messi,” says Hunt. “You hope this inspires a kid that might not have picked soccer, who’s this special athlete and has a special brain for the game to come play and hope fully play here at FC Dallas or at MLS teams, and we develop players like this. “We keep developing more and more top tal ent here. I’m so excited about our next genera tion of young players. “Really, the only thing that limits us is fields. We have, one way or another, between 40 and 55 fields under manage ment. I could build another 100 and I could fill every single ground.” – Reuters

to the sport, both in the region and nationally, since Dan’s father Lamar founded the Dallas Tornado in 1967. A year later the team were one of the original

co-chair of the North Texas World Cup organising com mittee. “I mean, that England Croatia game. Japan twice was amazing here. Argentina twice. Even hav ing Cristiano Ronaldo’s

an end to more than four weeks of festivities. “We’re so thankful that we had nine games and we’ve had unbelievable matches here,” says Hunt, who also served as

WHEN Mauricio Pochettino named the US squad for the World Cup, no club played a greater role in developing the players who would represent the tournament co-hosts than FC Dallas. In Weston McKennie, Chris Richards, Ricardo Pepi and Alejandro Zendejas, the Frisco based outfit produced a quar tet that underlined the organi sation’s reputation as the lead ing talent factory in Major League Soccer. “We’re a big believer in domestic talent,” FC Dallas president Dan Hunt tells Reuters. “And we want to try to help not only FC Dallas win, but the national teams win. “Because without a

members of the North American Soccer League, continuing in that competi tion until it folded in 1981. The exist ing MLS out fit, believes Hunt, are among the key reasons why the

last World Cup game. I mean, these are just amazing things.” The Hunt family

have been inte gral

strong national team, I really think it hurts the domestic league too. So we stay true to who we are.” All four players were featured dur ing the United States’ run to the last 16 but it is

Dallas’ status as the venue that hosted the largest

number of World Cup matches across the

tournament’s 16 venues that points to the potential of an even brighter future.

Dallas Stadium will host its ninth and last World Cup match tomorrow when France face Spain in the tournament’s first semifinal, bringing

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: US’s Ricardo Pepi, Weston McKennie, Alejandro Zendejas and Chris Richards. – REUTERSPIC