No guarantee, but India has better chance to qualify if World Cup expanded to 64 teams, says Bhutia

A 64-team football World Cup, which the international governing body FIFA is mulling, will give India a better chance to qualify for the showpiece but such a move could compromise the quality of the games, Indian legend Bhaichung Bhutia said.

An official proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, from 48 in the 2026 edition, was put forward by South American governing body CONMEBOL in April last year.

FIFA has not taken a decision yet but its president Gianni Infantino recently said his organisation will examine the proposal after this World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Defending champions Argentina face Spain in the final on Sunday (July 19, 2026) in New York.

The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be played in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the tournament. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.

“From the perspective of an Indian football fan, I think it’s a welcome move to have more teams. I’m not saying India will qualify but India will have a better chance to qualify if they increase to 64 from 48,” Bhutia said in an exclusive interview with PTI.

“But that doesn’t mean that the country need not do any work. We have to still get our system, structure, grassroot development right and produce more players, bring more kids to football.

“India needs to focus on qualifying for U-17, U-20 World Cups, then the senior team, then only we have a chance like what Uzbekistan and Morocco are doing. They (Uzbekistan, Morocco) are qualifying for the U-17 and U-20 World Cups regularly despite being small nations.” On the flip side, Bhutia said, “But yes, from the perspective of overall football fans across the world and the value and the excitement of World Cup, the quality of football, I think, would definitely decrease if you have 64 teams playing in the World Cup,” said the former India captain.

Indian women’s team has better chance than men to qualify for World Cup

Bhutia, who was Indian football’s poster boy in the first decade of this century before his retirement in 2011, said the national women’s team can qualify for the World Cup sooner than the men’s side. The number of teams in the 2031 Women’s World Cup, likely to be co-hosted by USA, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, will be increased to 48 from 32 in the 2027 edition.

The Indian women’s team is ranked 13th in Asia and 69th in the world, while the men’s side at 26th place among Asian countries and 138th globally.

Asian countries will qualify for the 2031 Women’s World Cup via a standalone qualifying round for the first time, and not through the Asian Cup as has been done earlier. Asia is likely to get eight direct slots for the 2031 Women’s World Cup. Two more Asian countries are likely to be included in a 12-nation inter-confederation play-off tournament for three more 2031 Women’s World Cup spots.

“I think Indian women’s team has got much better chance than the men’s side to qualify for the World Cup. But we need to put in more interest in women’s football. The top-tier IWL (Indian Women’s League) has to have more teams, we need different leagues for different age groups, set up a lot of grassroots football program.

“We need to give women more opportunities and value. Otherwise, why would a girl child want to play football and make a career out of it. We have to help her to be completely professional playing football. Only then, the parents can see a great future fore their children, that is definitely going to help the sport.” Bhutia also gave a thumbs up to the idea of bringing OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) and PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) players to join the national team and strengthen it.

“This should definitely help in short term. Right now we are definitely struggling in terms of performance and results. So good quality players who are playing in the highest leagues can always come and strengthen the team. But it is a short term thing and for long term, we still need to do right in a lot of things to develop the sport in the country.

“Also, just because an OCI is player is playing somewhere in the world but is not really outstanding than any of our players, then there is no point (of bringing) the OCI players.”