Why did FIFA grant Argentina automatic qualification for the 2030 World Cup?
Argentina came close to a second straight World Cup before losing to Spain. Despite the heartbreak, they will know that their spot in the next World Cup is secure.
The heartache might still be lingering, but there is at least a little consolation for the Argentina national team. They can rest easy knowing that they are already qualified for the next World Cup coming up in four years.
How did they?
Argentina is one of six countries that have already stamped their spot in the next World Cup. They get the automatic bid because they will host one World Cup match in the upcoming tournament, which will be the most expansive tournament in history.
There will be six different host countries in 2030. Portugal, Spain and Morocco are main host, but Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina will host just one match each before the teams head across the Atlantic for the rest of the tournament. All six of those hosting countries are guaranteed a spot in the a field that is rumored to be expanding.
This summer’s tournament was the first World Cup to feature 48 teams. FIFA decided to expand the field from 32 teams to 48, adding four more groups to group stage play, and an extra knockout round. Now there is talk of FIFA expanding it to 64 teams for the next edition.
Could the World Cup get even bigger?
The expanded field could help countries who might be on the fringe make their debut. Teams like Curacao, Cabo Verede and Jordan may not have got into the tournament if it wasn’t for the 48 team field. Since there are six spots already locked up for the next tournament, an 64 team World Cup may be doing some of those smaller countries a favor.
On the contrary, there are a few countries, and principalities that have already been counted out for the next World Cup, despite qualifiers not starting until September of next year. Vatican City, Monaco, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palau, Nauru, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are not eligible for the next World Cup because they are not members of FIFA.
Circling back to Argentina, it was likely that they were going to qualify for the World Cup in 2030, even without the automatic bid that comes with hosting a solitary match in the next tournament. Other than withdrawing from the World Cup from 1938 to 1954, Argentina have only failed to qualify once in the history of the competition. That came in 1970 when the missed the World Cup in Mexico.
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