FIFA shelves plan to expand 2022 World Cup to 48 teams
Christian Fernsby ▼ | May 23, 2019
FIFA has abandoned plans to expand the 2022 Qatar World Cup to 48 nations, deciding to stick with 32 countries because of the political and logistical complexities of using another Gulf nation.Article continues below
FIFA President Gianni Infantino's hopes of expanding the Middle East's first World Cup in the region were stymied by the regional diplomatic crisis and the body's demands on host nations to adhere to its human and labour rights requirements.
That means the World Cup will not be expanded until 2026, with FIFA already having approved a format with 48 teams for that tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A meeting of the FIFA Council in March authorised Infantino to work with Qatar on seeing if it was feasible to use at least one more country in the region to accommodate 16 more matches and present a proposal at meetings in June.
A FIFA internal report had already concluded the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could not join as cohosts unless they restore the economic and travel ties with Qatar that were severed two years ago.
The regional diplomatic crisis left neutral Kuwait which acts as the mediator in the Gulf rift and Oman as the viable options.
Oman has said it is not eager on hosting games at the FIFA showpiece. Infantino visited Kuwait last month in an attempt to persuade it to host matches in 2022.
But FIFA has now concluded it lacked to the time to prepare a country to host the extra games. ■ What to read next
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