Worst Chinese soccer twist? Hope to advance to the World Cup? Saudi Arabia will be on China's side! 64 countries will be expanded positively

Apr 21, 2025

Saudi Arabia, the host of the 2034 World Cup, has taken the position that it is open to expanding its participants in the World Cup.

On the 20th (Korea time), The Athletic of England announced that Saudi Arabia will be willing to host the Men's World Cup, which has expanded to 64 countries in 2034," he reported.

Recently, the expansion of countries participating in the 2030 World Cup has become a hot topic in the global soccer community. The 2030 World Cup is a competition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the World Cup, with Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as the host countries. It will be the first tournament in World Cup history to feature three continents.

It has not yet been confirmed how the 2030 World Cup will be held, but a shocking claim has been made in South America. Earlier this month, CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez "I am confident that the centennial celebration will be special because there is only one centennial. So we propose to hold the centennial event at the same time with 64 teams from three continents. It allows every country to have the opportunity to have a global experience and to ensure that no one on the planet is left out no matter where the festival takes place"He insisted on expanding the number of World Cup participants.

Originally, the World Cup was a competition involving 36 countries. The scale has been greatly expanded to 48 countries since the North Korea-China World Cup in 2026. As the tournament grew, the number of World Cup tickets distributed to each continent increased. Therefore, the opportunity to go to the World Cup has greatly expanded for countries that have not participated in many World Cups or countries that have not advanced to the World Cup.

Expanding from 48 to 64 countries will naturally give more countries a chance to participate in the World Cup. More tickets are likely to be distributed, especially in Asia, where the country has the largest number of tickets. Then, China's chances of participating in the World Cup naturally increase. China, the world's largest population, will naturally want to participate in the World Cup. China has never participated in the World Cup since the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. Even in the current situation where participation in the World Cup has become easier due to the expansion of 48 countries, it is on the verge of advancing to the World Cup.

However, no country or continent wanted to follow the proposal from South America. "I think expanding the size of the tournament is a bad idea," said Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA. It's not a good idea for the World Cup itself, it's not a good idea for the qualifiers"I publicly objected. Viktor Montaliani, president of the North American Caribbean Football Federation, agrees, and the Asian Football Federation (AFC) has expressed opposition.

However, Saudi Arabia, the host of the 2034 World Cup, gave a positive answer. If the 2030 tournament expands to 64 countries and succeeds, the 2034 tournament is likely to be held with 64 countries. Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal said "We are ready and will continue to prepare. If you think it's a decision made by FIFA and it's a good decision for everyone, we're willing to follow that decision," he responded positively to the expansion of the World Cup.

Whether Saudi Arabia's position will help China will not be known until the end of the FIFA Council in May.

Reporter Kim Dae-sik rlaeotlr2024@sportschosun.com

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.