FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed in an exclusive interview yesterday that he backs expanding the World Cup to 48 teams, giving “more of a chance to more teams.”
Infantino said that “a fundamental point” for an expanded finals would be to have it co-hosted “by several countries.”
He had already suggested that he would be in favor of a 40-team World Cup, up from the current 32.
Photo: Reuters
“We can consider a World Cup of 48 teams, which would in fact be a 32-team format, because we have seen that the ideal format is 32 teams,” Infantino said. “The idea would be that the best 16 teams in qualifying would qualify directly for the group phase.”
He said that the 32 other teams would dispute a play-off round from which the winners would enter the next stage to join the other 16 nations.
“This gives more chances for more teams. Furthermore, there would be no impact on the football calendar, because these play-off matches would be played instead of friendlies before the World Cup,” he said. “From the point of view of the promotion of football, there would be 16 finals before the real start of the group phase, real matches taking place to determine the 16 teams.”
Swiss-Italian lawyer Infantino said that the projected increase to 48 teams “is certainly going to be discussed on Oct. 13 and 14 when the next FIFA council meets.”
“It’s a project, it’s an idea just as the World Cup with 40 teams is already on the table with groups of four or five teams,” he said. “We will certainly make a decision next year. We need to see what the impact for football at international level is going to be.”
In Japan, substitute Hotaru Yamaguchi’s 95th-minute winner rescued Japan and their stuttering World Cup qualifying campaign as they escaped with a 2-1 victory over Iraq.
The Blue Samurai were headed for an ignominious draw in Saitama when Yamaguchi smashed a loose ball from a corner through a forest of legs and into the Iraq goal.
The result gave Japan their second win in three final-round qualifiers and boosted under-fire coach Vahid Halilhodzic, who has endured calls for his resignation and has suffered reported player unrest.
It also lifts Japan’s hopes of reaching a sixth straight World Cup in Russia in 2018 as they draw temporarily level on points with Group B pacesetters Australia and Saudi Arabia, who were to begin their game after press time last night.
As Borussia Dortmund forward Shinji Kagawa watched from the bench, Japan dominated the early possession, but rarely threatened, with Hiroshi Kiyotake’s 11th-minute piledriver their closest sight of goal.
Genki Haraguchi put the hosts ahead with a brilliant piece of skill as he flicked Kiyotake’s cross through his legs and beneath the diving body of goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed on 26 minutes.
AC Milan’s Keisuke Honda should have made it 2-0 a minute later, but he hit his close-range half-volley straight at the busy Hameed.
Iraq nearly equalized in the first half, but Alaa Abdul-Zahra’s volley, from a sweeping ball that dropped over his head, bounced kindly for Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa.
However, Iraq rocked the four-time Asian champions on 60 minutes when Saad Luaibi nodded Ahmed Yaseen’s free-kick inside the post and past the diving Nishikawa.
Not content with a draw, Iraq poured forward in search of a shock victory, but it was Honda who nearly grabbed the clincher when his header came off the post in the 80th minute.
As six minutes of stoppage-time ticked away, Hiyotake’s cross fell for substitute Yamaguchi, who buried the winner to send the stadium into ecstasy.
The top two sides from two groups of six book their ticket to Russia, while the two third-placed teams go into a play-off series.
In Suwon, South Korea, the hosts downed Qatar 3-2 in their Group A encounter.
Ki Sung-yueng, Ji Dong-won and Son Heung-min netted for South Korea, while Hassan al-Haydos — with a penalty — and Sebastian Soria both had equalizers.
Also in Group A, Mahmoud al-Mawas was the lone scorer in China as Syria beat the hosts 1-0.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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