Qatar wants talks with FIFA to discuss the feasibility of increasing the 2022 World Cup to 48 teams after soccer’s governing body expressed interest in enlarging a tournament already having to overcome operational challenges.
The Gulf nation took two days to publicly respond to calls on Thursday from South American football nations to fast-track the jump from 32 to 48 teams at World Cups by four years.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has already secured approval for World Cup expansion from 2026, has said he is receptive to the CONMBEOL request while acknowledging a feasibility study was required.
Qatar’s infrastructure, which is being rapidly developed to cope with the World Cup, will already be stretched by the requirements of staging the Middle East’s first World Cup. Enlarging the tournament would see the number of games rise from 64 to 80.
“Before any decision is taken it is important that discussions are held on the operations and logistics of an increase in size of the tournament in Qatar,” the Qatar World Cup organizing committee said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday. “Regardless of the outcome, we are confident in our ability to deliver a successful World Cup in 2022.”
The tiny desert nation has only eight stadiums planned for the event and expanding the tournament might work only if the additional games are shared in the region.
The tournament is already due to operate on a tight 28-day schedule to minimize the disruption caused to the European season. Rather being staged in the usual June-July slot, the 2022 World Cup was shifted by FIFA to November-December because of the extreme summer heat.
Preparations for the event are being disrupted by the ongoing boycott by neighbors, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who severed diplomatic and travel links with Qatar in June 2017.
Kuwait, which retains ties with Qatar, would be a possible option to take on the burden of additional World Cup matches. But bringing another nation into the hosting, or requiring Qatar to build more stadiums, could increase the human rights scrutiny that has dogged it since winning the FIFA vote in 2010.
Qatar wants FIFA talks on logistics of a 48-team World Cup
Qatar wants FIFA talks on logistics of a 48-team World Cup
- Enlarging the tournament would see the number of games rise from 64 to 80
- 'We are confident in our ability to deliver a successful World Cup in 2022'
Barcelona confirm exit from failed European Super League
- Barca president Joan Laporta said in October 2025 Barcelona wanted to reestablish links with UEFA
- “We are in favor of peace because there is a way forward for the clubs in the Super League to return to UEFA,” said Laporta
BARCELONA: Spanish giants Barcelona confirmed their withdrawal from the failed breakaway European Super League project on Saturday, leaving Real Madrid as the only club still involved.
“Barcelona hereby announces that today it has formally notified the European Super League Company and the clubs involved of its withdrawal from the European Super League project,” said the Catalans in a statement.
Barca president Joan Laporta said in October 2025 Barcelona wanted to reestablish links with UEFA, moving away from the project launched by 12 clubs in 2021 which quickly collapsed under the weight of immense fan and institutional pressure.
Shortly after the semi-closed Super League project was announced five years ago, the six English clubs involved — Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea — withdrew.
Four other clubs, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, followed by 2024, leaving only Barca and Real Madrid still involved in the project championed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
“We are in favor of peace because there is a way forward for the clubs in the Super League to return to UEFA,” said Barca chief Laporta in October.
“We feel very close to UEFA and the EFC (European Football Clubs, a sole, independent body representing football clubs within Europe).”
In 2024, a Spanish court ruled opposition to the Super League from world and European football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA “prevented free competition,” and in 2025 an appeal from UEFA was rejected.
As a result, Real Madrid and the Super League, promoted by the A22 Sports Management group, were seeking more than $4 billion in damages from UEFA, a source told AFP.
