FIFA President Gianni Infantino excitedly assessed the success of the 48-team World Cup to comment on considering the possibility of increasing to 64 right at the World Cup 4 years later. It is true that there are reasons for many people, many places to be excited about this possibility, with one of the things Infantino mentioned being "the level gap between continents is narrowing".
He proved it with data, with "9 African teams passing the group stage of the 2026 World Cup" and "teams from all federations scoring and winning points in the group stage". The use of data is real, but the gap as FIFA President said is "virtual". A weaker team can completely build a "bus", play defensively - in fact it is like that, to earn 1 point, or score from set pieces. That does not mean that the level has been narrowed.
And also from the data, remember that, among the 9 African teams that passed the group stage, only 2 teams advanced to the round of 16. After the quarter-finals, there are no representatives left. And proving the opposite view to Infantino, Global Football Development Director Arsene Wenger, said about Asian teams "being eliminated early because they cannot withstand the intensity, speed of the match and do not have enough technical level to compete at this level". That is the boundary between the so-called "virtual gap" and "crude reality".
So, is the idea of adding 12 slots for the 2030 World Cup - and possibly more in the future, really for expertise?
People easily associate it with 2 factors "financial" and "power". More teams means more matches, more television rights, billions of USD in commercial revenue. The fact that World Cup tickets, which had to be fiercely competed for, are now more open to "suburban areas" is seen as a perfect diplomatic weapon to exchange for loyal votes in each presidential election.
Making money is a job, a goal of anyone, any organization, so it is not necessary to criticize FIFA and Infantino for new ideas that appear. The issue is, let the development of member federations, of the World Cup itself be reasonable.
When opposition is equivalent to support, the decision cannot be one-sided.
