The report says the 64-team plan has been put forward by Conmebol, with Infantino appearing open to the conversation rather than shutting it down.
That matters. The World Cup has always balanced sport, business and diplomacy, but a tournament of this size would test all three at once. More teams means broader representation and more political goodwill across ’s voting map. It also means tougher questions about calendar space, player workload and competitive quality.
This is not just about format. It is about authority.
Infantino appears to remain influential, but wider scrutiny around governance has not gone away. Reports have linked recent tension to ideas around outside investment in competitions, plans that were later dropped after resistance from powerful stakeholders.
In that climate, backing a 64-team World Cup would look less like routine reform and more like another attempt to reshape the game’s centre of gravity.
There is a case for growth. Smaller nations want access, confederations want relevance, and has long sold expansion as inclusion. But there is also a point where bigger stops feeling better.
Trump also called Infantino “fantastic” and said he had “just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented.” That is the kind of political cover powerful figures value. It is not the same as consensus.
The next story to watch is whether this remains a floated idea or turns into a formal push. If it does, the argument over 2030 may become as much about power as football.