Fifa president Gianni Infantino wants 48-team World Cup finals
Baku, October 4, AZERTAC
Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, whose election promises included expanding the World Cup finals to 40 countries, on Monday proposed an even larger tournament involving 48 teams, according to The Telegraph.
However, he suggested that 16 of those teams would go home after just one knockout match, and the remainder of the tournament would be played, as now, with a 32-team group stage, followed by a knockout phase.
Infantino, speaking during an event at Bogota's Sergio Arboleda university, said a final decision would be taken by the Fifa Council in January, Colombian media reported. A Fifa spokesperson confirmed that the reports were accurate.
Infantino said his suggestion was to have a preliminary knockout round involving 32 teams played in the host country, with the 16 winners reaching the group stage. A further 16 seeded teams would get a bye into the group stage, he said.
