FIFA president Gianni Infantino met with CONMEBOL leaders in New York on Tuesday as the South American confederation pushed for a major proposal, expanding the already sprawling 2030 World Cup, which is set to be hosted across six nations on three continents, from 48 teams to 64. Such a move would guarantee automatic qualification for all 10 CONMEBOL members but would also double the number of tournament fixtures to 128.

According to Goal.com, Alejandro Domínguez, the President of CONMEBOL (the South American football governing body), travelled to New York with the leaders of the Argentinian, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan federations to continue their pitch to the FIFA President. Crucially, this meeting marked the first time the proposal, initially put forward in March, was formally presented to Gianni Infantino.

“We believe in a historic 2030 World Cup!” Domínguez said in a social media post after the meeting. “Thank you, President Gianni Infantino, for welcoming us and sharing this journey toward the centennial of football’s greatest celebration. We want to call for unity, creativity, and believing big. Because when football is shared by everyone, the celebration is truly global.”

If approved, it would mark the second expansion in a decade, after FIFA kept the same format from 1998 until the upcoming 48-team edition in 2026.

To mark the centenary (100th anniversary) of the inaugural World Cup, FIFA is hosting the tournament across three continents: Europe, South America, and Africa.

The hosting duties are split among Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, with Paraguay and Argentina also serving as co-hosts. Uruguay, the original 1930 host nation, will be granted the privilege of hosting one game. The presentation was attended not only by the FA presidents but also by the heads of the host nations, President Yamandú Orsi of Uruguay and President Santiago Peña of Paraguay.

Argentina FA president Claudio Chiqui Tapia shared his thoughts after the meeting.

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“I had the honour of being part of the FIFA summit, organised by Gianni Infantino, to start to organise what will be the 2030 World Cup. It was truly a pleasure to have represented our country at this important meeting,” Tapia said in a social media post. “We are family, and we have done our part to request this meeting so our dream can become reality.”

FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafström was also in attendance. If FIFA approves the proposal, it would also expand the tournament to 128 matches, which is double the number of matches played during the World Cups between 1998 to 2022. Dominguez believes FIFA should act due to the historical significance of the World Cup.

“As we get closer to the date, we must reiterate that this cannot be just another event; it cannot be just another World Cup. We believe this is a once-in-a-century opportunity to have the group stage matches played in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay,” Domínguez said.

While CONMEBOL is aligned with the push for more teams, the proposal has been met by criticism from other FIFA federations. When the proposal initially came about, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin called it a “bad idea” when asked about it.

“This proposal was maybe even more surprising for me than you,” Čeferin said at a news conference after UEFA’s annual meeting in Belgrade, Serbia. “I think it is a bad idea.”

Detractors argue the expansion would dilute the quality of play and lessen the importance of qualifying.