CONMEBOL president says the next World Cup will have 64 teams - ESPN

What the report says

ESPN reported that CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said on social media that the 2030 FIFA World Cup will be a “64-team tournament.” The article text was not available in the supplied material, so the specific wording of his post, any reaction from FIFA, and whether he described the format as agreed or proposed could not be independently detailed from the source evidence.

The statement is notable because the World Cup is already set for a major expansion. The 2026 edition, to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is scheduled to feature 48 teams, up from the 32-team format used from 1998 through 2022. A move to 64 teams in 2030 would represent another large increase in the number of participating national sides and matches, with implications for scheduling, player workload, qualification routes and host logistics.

As general context, FIFA has selected Spain, Portugal and Morocco as principal hosts for the 2030 tournament, with South American centenary matches planned in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to mark 100 years since the first World Cup in Uruguay. CONMEBOL, South America’s football confederation, has been closely associated with that centenary element. However, based on the supplied ESPN snippet, Domínguez’s social media statement should be treated as a reported claim from a senior confederation official rather than a fully documented FIFA decision unless and until further confirmation or formal tournament rules are published.