FIFA is mulling the possibility of raising the number of teams that can compete in the World Cup Finals from 2022.
While FIFA had earlier voted to make increase the number from 2026,... the head of football's global governing body has suggested bringing the change forward by four years.
Kim Hyo-sun reports.
FIFA is considering expanding the size of the next World Cup to 48 from 32 teams.
Speaking at an international sports conference on Wednesday,... the president of FIFA said the majority of national federations favor the idea.

"So if you think it's a good thing to have 48 teams in the World Cup, and we'll have it for 2026, why shouldn't we try to have it already four years before? It's never too late to do something good, right, and that's why we are analyzing whether it's possible to have 48 teams already in 2022."

Soccer's global governing body already voted in 2017 to increase the size of the tournament to 48 teams from 2026,... but FIFA is mulling the possibility of introducing the change from the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
Infantino also raised the possibility of Qatar sharing the tournament with neighboring countries.

"If we can maybe convince some of the neighboring countries in the Gulf region which are very close by, to host maybe a few games for this World Cup, this could certainly be very beneficial for the region and for the entire world."

The plan to expand the number of participating teams could give China a chance to qualify for the international tournament,... thereby enabling Chinese firms to invest in World Cup marketing.
However, such a decision could receive criticism from global soccer fans.
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.