FIFA World Cup
Rajarshi Shukla
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, has wished Donald Trump on his winning of the US presidency. Trump has proclaimed victory and defeated Kamala Harris, a Democrat.
The Jules Rimet trophy will make its first appearance in North America since 1994 when the United States, Canada, and Mexico host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
During Trump’s first term, Infantino met with Donald Trump several times to talk about the World Cup and the opening of FIFA’s headquarters in the United States, which they did in 2023.
‘Congratulations Mr President!’ Gianni Infantino wrote on Instagram on Wednesday morning.
‘We will have a great FIFA World Cup and a great FIFA Club World Cup in the United States of America! Football Unites the World!’
The 2026 World Cup will introduce a novel format that has generated a lot of debate.
With 48 teams (up from 32)—the three host countries and 45 qualifiers—playing 104 matches (up from 64), the event will undergo a substantial expansion and redesign. This represents a significant increase of about 50%.
As a result of this expansion, there will be more matches per day across the US, Canada, and Mexico, as well as a longer tournament.
The number of participating nations increased from 13 to 16 in the first four tournaments in 1930, 1934, 1938, and 1950 to 16 in 1954; 24 in Spain in 1982, and 32 in France in 1998, where it stayed ever since. Infantino was elected president of FIFA on a promise to establish a World Cup with 40 teams.
He maintained that rather than enriching the wealthy elite, the £825 million in additional revenue and £530 million in additional profit that this decision is anticipated to generate will trickle down to grassroots football.
‘Increasing the size of teams which can participate will increase the investment in football development, to make sure that the teams can qualify,’ he said.
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