New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) India captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu believes a possible expansion of the FIFA World Cup 2026 to 64 teams could improve India’s chances of reaching football’s biggest stage, but stressed that the national team’s immediate focus should remain on climbing the Asian rankings rather than getting carried away by speculation.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino recently backed studying a proposal to expand the 2030 FIFA World Cup to 64 teams. While the tournament is already set to be historic, with matches scheduled across six countries and three continents, the expansion proposal has sparked debate over player workload and the future of international football.

Gurpreet admitted that a larger World Cup could work in India’s favour. He also acknowledged that such an expansion would place an even greater burden on players competing in Europe’s top leagues.

“From India’s point of view, it’s good because the more teams there are, the better for us. It’s not that busy for us anymore,” said Gurpreet, who is part of the Zee5 FIFA WC 2026 expert panel.

“I feel for teams playing in Europe and other countries, who are already playing 50-60 matches; it will be very hectic for them. But again, there will be a thought process behind it. They must have thought about how to do it, keeping the fatigue in mind and keeping the league format in mind,” he added.

The 33-year-old reiterated that India’s ambitions should be built gradually rather than relying on a possible increase in World Cup places. He feels that India’s focus should be first on entering the top-league teams in Asia.

“As an Indian football fan and as an active Indian player, I personally want us to be at the World Cup as soon as possible. But right now, my priority is how we can reach Asia’s top 10, even Asia’s top 15.”

“We need to take one step ahead of the other, not jump straight away to where we want to be. That’s not the goal. You want to build one step at a time. For us, the immediate target should be to get into the top 15 of Asia and then take it from there,” Gurpreet said.

—IANS

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