Plan for 48-team World Cup in 2022 impossible

ZURICH: A proposal to increase the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to 48 teams is impossible to carry out and does not make sense, according to the head of the umbrella organisation representing Europe’s biggest domestic football leagues.

European Leagues (EPFL) chief Lars-Christer Olsson said on Tuesday he was surprised the proposal was made at the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Congress in Buenos Aires last week without being put to other stakeholders.

Olsson said a larger tournament would last several days longer, increasing the break in the domestic club season which the leagues had only agreed to reluctantly in the first place. It would also put more pressure on the players.

He added that the leagues had already made concessions to Fifa by agreeing that the 2022 World Cup could be staged in November and December rather than the traditional June/July window to escape the sweltering heat of the Qatari summer.

Fifa have already decided to increase the World Cup from 32 teams to 48, but only from the 2026 tournament.

The proposal to also enlarge the 2022 finals was made to Fifa president Gianni Infantino in an open letter presented by CONMEBOL on Thursday although Olsson said he had heard rumours about it two weeks earlier.

“It’s impossible, it’s already a break in the season for the most important leagues of the world, in Europe and it doesn’t make sense,” he said in a telephone interview, adding that an enlarged tournament would need several more days.

“I’m a bit surprised that proposals are presented this way,” he added. “The reform of Fifa was among other things to establish it as an organisation where there was proper stakeholder information and consultation.

“There are bodies organised for that purpose so it’s strange to have ideas popping up like this.”

He said that presenting the