The governing body of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) FIFA, has decided to expand its flagship tournament, the World Cup finals, into a 48-team competition from its current 32.
According to Ceoafrica, the announcement was made on Twitter which goes thus “the FIFA Council unanimously decided on 48-team #WorldCup as of 2026: 16 groups of 3 teams. Details will follow after the meeting”.
It is understood that expanding the World Cup was one of the promises of Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino, when he took over from Sepp Blatter last February.
The decision means that more African teams than the current number of five will start in the tournament at the group stage.
Giovanni Vincenzo "Gianni" Infantino who was born on the 23rd of March 1970, is a football administrator and current FIFA's president, who also have dual nationality, Swiss and Italian.
He has been the general secretary of UEFA since 2009 and was elected president of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress on 26th of February 2016.
