FIFA to Review 64-Team World Cup Proposal for 2030

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the governing body will consider expanding the 2030 World Cup from 48 to 64 teams.

FIFA will examine a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, president Gianni Infantino said, potentially adding another 16 nations to the tournament.

“A 64-team tournament is definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” Infantino said. amunra.help

Infantino described the 48-team format as a success and argued that broader participation could encourage football development in smaller countries.

The South American Football Confederation had previously proposed a one-off 64-team tournament in 2025 to mark the World Cup’s centenary.

At the time, CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said the expansion would allow more countries to participate in the anniversary edition, 100 years after Uruguay hosted the inaugural tournament.

The proposal has faced opposition from senior football officials. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said a 64-team competition would weaken both the World Cup and regional qualifying tournaments.

The 2030 World Cup will be hosted primarily by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay will each stage one opening match as part of the centenary celebrations.

Under the existing 48-team format, the tournament would feature 104 matches. A 64-team competition would require FIFA to revise the qualification system, tournament structure, and match schedule.

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Johannesburg: South African midfielder Jayden Adams, who represented his country at the ongoing World Cup, died Saturday at the age of 25, Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said.

"It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams," McKenzie said in a statement.

The minister did not disclose a cause of death.

"South African football has lost one of its brightest young talents," he said.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) also paid tribute, saying on X: "Football has lost one of its own."

Police said they had opened an investigation after the body of a 25-year-old man was found at a house in Schotschekloof, a suburb in central Cape Town, on Saturday morning.

"Circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation," Western Cape police spokesperson FC van Wyk told AFP.

Adams played in all three of South Africa's group-stage matches at the World Cup, as Bafana Bafana reached the Round of 32 for the first time, but did not feature in the knockout defeat by Canada.

He was also part of the South Africa squad that finished third at the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

Born in Cape Town, Adams came through the Stellenbosch FC academy and became the club's first youth graduate to sign a professional contract in August 2020.

He went on to make 139 appearances for the Cape Winelands side and helped them win the Carling Knockout in 2023 before joining Mamelodi Sundowns in January 2025.

At Sundowns, the midfielder added a Premiership title and a CAF Champions League crown to his list of honours.

His death comes less than a month after the passing of his grandmother, on the eve of South Africa's Group A match against Czechia at Atlanta Stadium.

"Jayden started in the match against Czechia and gave his all while carrying the burden of losing his grandmother," the South African Football Association said at the time.

تُوفي لاعب الوسط الجنوب أفريقي جايدن أدامس الذي مثّل منتخب بلاده في كأس العالم 2026، عن عمر ناهز 25 عاما، بحسب ما أعلن وزير الرياضة في جنوب أفريقيا، غايتون ماكنزي، السبت.

وقال ماكنزي في بيان: تلقيت بصدمة عميقة وحزن بالغ نبأ وفاة جايدن أدامس.

ولم يكشف الوزير عن سبب الوفاة، مضيفا: خسرت كرة القدم الجنوب إفريقية أحد أبرز مواهبها الشابة.

من جانبه، نعى الاتحاد الإفريقي للعبة (الكاف) اللاعب، وكتب عبر منصة إكس: لقد فقدت كرة القدم أحد أبنائها.

وقال رئيس الاتحاد الدولي (فيفا)، جاني إنفانتينو، إنه يشعر بـحزن عميق إثر وفاة أدامس، مقدما أحرّ التعازي والمواساة، باسمي وباسم جميع أفراد الفيفا وأسرة كرة القدم العالمية، إلى عائلته وأصدقائه وزملائه في الفريق.

وقالت الشرطة إنها فتحت تحقيقا بعد العثور على جثة رجل يبلغ من العمر 25 عاما داخل منزل في حي شوتشيكلوف، الواقع في وسط مدينة كيب تاون، صباح السبت.

وأوضح المتحدث باسم شرطة إقليم الكيب الغربي، إف سي فان فايك، لوكالة فرانس برس، أن ملابسات هذه الحادثة لا تزال قيد التحقيق.

وشارك أدامس في جميع مباريات جنوب إفريقيا الثلاث في دور المجموعات من كأس العالم، وأسهم في بلوغ منتخب بافانا بافانا دور الـ32 للمرة الأولى في تاريخه، لكنه غاب عن المباراة الأخيرة أمام كندا.

كما كان ضمن تشكيلة منتخب جنوب إفريقيا التي أحرزت المركز الثالث في كأس إفريقيا 2024 التي أقيمت في ساحل العاج.

وُلد أدامس في كيب تاون، وتدرّج في أكاديمية نادي ستيلينبوش، قبل أن يصبح أول لاعب يتخرج من أكاديمية النادي ويوقع عقدا احترافيا في أغسطس 2020.

وخاض 139 مباراة بقميص ستيلينبوش، وأسهم في تتويجه بلقب كأس كارلينغ عام 2023، قبل انتقاله إلى ماميلودي صنداونز في يناير 2025.

ومع صنداونز، أضاف إلى سجله لقب الدوري الجنوب Yفريقي، إلى جانب التتويج بدوري أبطال افريقيا.

وتأتي وفاته بعد أقل من شهر على رحيل جدته، وذلك عشية مواجهة جنوب أفريقيا أمام تشيكيا ضمن منافسات المجموعة الأولى على ملعب أتلانتا.

وقال الاتحاد الجنوب إفريقي لكرة القدم آنذاك: شارك جايدن أساسيا في مباراة التشيك، وقدم كل ما لديه رغم الألم الذي كان يحمله بعد وفاة جدته.

Los Angeles: England and Argentina will meet on Wednesday in a blockbuster World Cup semi-final infused with decades of bitter rivalry after they battled past Norway and Switzerland respectively in the quarter-finals.

The South Americans and their talisman Lionel Messi must defeat England in Atlanta to keep alive their hopes of becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962.

England and their key partnership of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane must win to have any hope of ending a 60-year wait for a major trophy.

The winner of that game will take on the victor of France’s semi-final with Spain -- they meet in Texas on Tuesday -- in the final on July 19.

The Argentina v England match comes 40 years after a seismic encounter in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Argentina secured a 2-1 victory at the Estadio Azteca with two goals from Diego Maradona -- one the infamous “Hand of God” when he punched the ball into the net and the other a dazzling solo effort considered one of the greatest goals ever to grace a World Cup.

For Maradona’s heir, Messi, it will be his 206th match in an Albiceleste shirt, but his first ever against England.

The match will also take place against the backdrop of a lingering sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, known in Spanish as the Malvinas.

Britain sent a military taskforce in 1982 to reclaim the islands after Argentine troops invaded.

After Argentina beat a dogged Swiss side 3-1 in Kansas City on Saturday thanks to extra-time goals from Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez, their coach Lionel Scaloni attempted to take the political heat out of the meeting with England.

“The message is this is a football game. That’s what I can say,” Scaloni said.

“It is a football game and we will be playing against a very tough opponent. They have an excellent coach and this is a football game and that’s all.” That coach, Thomas Tuchel, was angry with his England team after they needed extra-time on Saturday to end Norway’s historic run in sweltering Miami.

Two goals from Jude Bellingham gave England a nervy 2-1 victory to send them into the semi-finals for only the fourth time in history.

Tuchel said his team would need to make a noticeable improvement if they were to have any chance of reaching the final.

In energy-sapping Florida heat and humidity, England’s shaky defence allowed Andreas Schjelderup to unleash a rasping shot from the left to put Norway ahead on 36 minutes.

But England got a huge break in first-half stoppage time when Bellingham equalised after an attack that was initiated when a goal kick from Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland appeared to hit an overhead camera cable.

Norway’s players protested in vain and the goal stood. The Norwegians also had a goal controversially disallowed before Bellingham then poached the winner in extra-time.

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” Tuchel said afterwards.

“The result is fantastic. The last four is amazing, but not happy with the performance... we were very lucky today.” While football’s world governing body FIFA later said there was “no evidence” the ball had hit the cable before England’s first goal, Norway coach Stale Solbakken was adamant.

“That was unlucky for us,” Solbakken said. “The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction. But we can’t do anything about that.” Erling Haaland, the marauding forward who scored seven goals as Norway reached uncharted waters at the tournament, said his team’s performance had inspired a new generation.

“How we put Norway on the map is maybe one thing that touches me the most,” said Haaland, who failed to score for the first time in 15 competitive games for his country.

“Hopefully now we can establish something when it comes to Euros, World Cups and everything because our generation is amazing and also all this gives motivation to young people back in Norway that it’s possible to play a big stage in the world with a Norwegian shirt.”