UEFA President Michel Platini Wants the World Cup to Expand From 32 to 40 Teams

Is a bigger World Cup better?

Image via Anders Vindegg on Flickr

Are more teams going to start qualifying for the World Cup? Maybe.

Shortly after FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested that the World Cup start including more teams from Asia and Africa recently, UEFA president Michel Platini came out and said that expanding the World Cup could make that possible. Platini believes that expanding the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams could allow for more countries from Asia and Africa to qualify for the World Cup and keep plenty of European squads in the mix, too.

"Instead of taking away some European [nations], we have to go to 40 teams in the World Cup," he said. "We can add two African, two Asiatic, two American, and one from Europe. I support this idea totally."

This idea isn't set in stone yet, and there's still a pretty good chance that FIFA decides against expanding the World Cup. But if it does happen, it could affect the number of teams that qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Platini sees it as a good thing for the sport of soccer.

"Football is changing and now we have 209 associations," he said. "There are more countries, so why reduce? Forty is not so bad."

Stay tuned to see if this ends up going anywhere. Do you think that expanding the World Cup makes sense—or will it end up watering down the competition?

RELATED: Manchester City Midfielder Yaya Toure Says Black Players May Boycott the 2018 World Cup in Russia Because of Racism

[via BBC]

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