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Infantino's 48-team World Cup expected to be approved

Gianni Infantino's proposal to expand the World Cup to a 48-team tournament is expected to be given official backing by FIFA on Tuesday.

The FIFA president laid out plans to allow a further 16 teams to qualify for the finals in 2026 as part of his campaign for the top job last year.

The FIFA Council, the organisation's strategic body, will decide on a preferred format for the tournament when it meets in Zurich on Tuesday.

Although there are five World Cup proposals in total, expectations are growing that a 48-team option will win a majority vote among the Council's 37 members.

"So far, everybody's excited about it," he said, as quoted by The Guardian. "I wouldn't say there's 100 per cent support but all my colleagues I've spoken to - all my colleagues - are excited about it.

"I'm not going to say 100 per cent because I haven't spoken to everybody, but certainly most of Africa is excited about it."

"In the interest of the fans and the players, we urge FIFA not to increase the number of World Cup participants," ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. "Politics and commerce should not be the exclusive priority in football."

Infantino's plan would see 48 teams split into 16 groups of three teams, with the top two in each progressing to a round-of-32 knockout stage.