World Cup

FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb warns against World Cup expansion

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 26 May 2015

FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb believes that the proposal to add four more teams to the World Cup would only dilute the quality at the showpiece event.

FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb has warned against expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 36 for purely "political reasons".

Ahead of Friday's FIFA presidential election, challenger Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has promised to add four more teams to world football's biggest event, starting with the 2018 addition in Russia.

Incumbent president Sepp Blatter is against the proposal, however, and Webb believes that it could end up diluting the quality of the World Cup.

"The World Cup is a jewel of football and, for me, you shouldn't increase the spaces in a World Cup for political reasons. You should increase the spaces in the World Cup because of the development of the game," he is quoted as saying by PA.

"Are we going to dilute the World Cup to appease various associations? No, we must have real leadership and courage to stand up and address it.

"I think 32 is great. If you look at the standard, you look at the television ratings, it's tremendous. Every single game. Do you want to go to a World Cup where you know what the score is going to be every single game?"

Prince Ali is the only challenger to Blatter this year after fellow candidates Michael van Praag and Luis Figo both pulled out of the race in order to pool support behind the Jordanian.