FIFA: Council to study the "feasibility" of a 48-team World Cup in 2022 on 15/03/2019

"Feasibility study on the increase of the number of teams from 32 to 48 in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022," is item number 8 on the agenda of meeting no.9 of the FIFA council (document available to download) scheduled in Miami (Florida, USA), on Friday 15/03/2019.

The XXII World Cup, was re-scheduled for the end of autumn from 21/11 to 18/12/2022 due to the summer heat in Qatar. Normally 32 teams would participate, but negotiations have taken place between FIFA and Qatar to study the possibility of expanding the competition to 48 teams by 2022 (16 groups of three with the elimination of 16 countries before the Round of 32) planned for 2026.

"FIFA is currently carrying out a feasibility study, we don't have any details. We must remember that Qatar won the right to host the 32-team World Cup. FIFA will make the decision with Qatar and only if Qatar agrees," said Nasser Al Khater, CEO of the 2022 World Cup, to L'Équipe on 18/12/2018, four years to the day before the 2022 World Cup final.