SFA President Stewart Regan has offered his backing to proposals to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams but admitted he could also understand why some nations might not be in favour.
At a meeting in Zurich on Tuesday, Fifa’s council is expected to rubber-stamp president Gianni Infantino’s plans to increase the size of the tournament from 2026. The proposed format would comprise 16 groups of three, with the top two from each section going through to a 32-team knock-out stage.
Regan believes the move would benefit countries like Scotland, even if Uefa is expected to be given a maximum of 16 places in any enlarged event. That is just two more than their allocation for the finals in Russia next year and three more than they will receive for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, although Fifa are not expected to confirm those details until a future date.
“For small and medium-sized countries a greater opportunity to participate in a major tournament - and for their fans to see their side play against the best countries in the world - has to be seen as a good thing,” Regan told the Sunday Herald.
“You look at the expanded Euro 2016 and the success countries like Iceland, Wales and Northern Ireland enjoyed there. So a bigger World Cup would similarly give the smaller nations a better chance of reaching a major finals which, from a Scottish perspective, would be a positive step. The devil, as always, is in the detail so we will need to see what Fifa eventually settle on. But you would hope that if it went to 48 teams that Europe would be the recipient of some extra places.”
While each of the four home nations – as well as Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho - are said to be in favour of a bigger tournament, others like reigning world champions Germany are against moving away from the status quo, believing a 48-team event would reduce the quality and cause greater conflict between clubs and national teams. Regan was sympathetic to those concerns.
“I can see both sides of the coin,” he said. “I can understand those who would think that by increasing the numbers it potentially dilutes the impact. Bigger countries are also maybe looking at it from the viewpoint of too much football, especially if players are to be involved for longer periods of time. So I can understand that argument, too.”
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