Alejandro Dominguez, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), announced on Thursday that a request had been submitted to FIFA for a plan to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.

According to the current plan, the 2030 World Cup will be jointly hosted by six countries on three continents: Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay will host the first three games, and the remaining games will be moved to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. This special arrangement was proposed by FIFA to commemorate the historical significance of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.

South America believes that the current size of 48 participating teams limits the opportunities for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to host more games, and it is difficult to fully reflect the global significance of the World Cup Centennial Celebration. For this reason, Alejandro Dominguez said in his opening speech at the 80th Congress of the South American Football Confederation: "We have submitted an application to FIFA, proposing to hold the World Cup Centennial Celebration with a scale of 64 teams. This celebration will be a unique event because the 100th anniversary will only happen once. For this reason, we make an exception and propose to hold a World Cup with 64 teams simultaneously on three continents."

Dominguez envisions Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay hosting at least one full group stage each, rather than just the opening three matches. He added: "Our goal is to give all countries the opportunity to experience the World Cup, to ensure that no corner of the planet is left out of this celebration of humanity - even though the tournament is spread across the world, it is always our celebration."