FIFA is looking for an independent agency to study what would happen if the men's World Cup grew from 48 teams to 64. According to documents seen by the Press Association, the organization wants proposals from agencies by August 7, with a decision on which agency to hire by August 14. The agency's analysis would then be due on September 11.
The review comes as FIFA president Gianni Infantino faces growing resistance inside the sport. Three confederations have rejected his proposal to create a private investment vehicle called FIFA Forward Enterprise, or FFE, which would run commercial and operational aspects of FIFA tournaments including both the men's and women's World Cups. UEFA has gone further, announcing it intends to boycott FIFA competitions until the project is abandoned. The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF have also rejected the plan.
On Friday, Infantino's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned. Cordeiro, an investment banker, called the FFE proposal "a bad deal for football."
One of the central fears surrounding FFE was that private investors would push for larger and more frequent tournaments to maximize financial returns. The expansion study appears connected to that concern. FIFA's own brief for the agency asks it to "test market appetite and system-wide consequences of this movement, including commercial spaces and risk of saturation."
The brief lays out the core question directly. FIFA wants to know whether "a 64-team format expand global relevance and participation in a way that strengthens the football economy, or do dilution, calendar congestion, execution complexity and saturation undermine the proposition."
FIFA has also specified that fan opinion should not drive the study. The brief states that consumer or fan evidence may be used where it helps, "but it should not become the centre of the study that remains a B2B focused study."
The timeline places the agency's final report eight days before the deadline for national associations to vote on the FFE proposal. The Thrive Eternal company, founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, is named as the earmarked leader of the private investor group for FFE, according to FIFA.
The 2030 World Cup is listed as the starting point for any potential 64-team expansion, should the format be approved. FIFA has not commented on the documents.
