FIFA president Gianni Infantino backs plans for 48-team World Cup, with 16 groups

The format would involve 16 groups of three sides, compared with the current format of eight groups of four.

The increase of 16 sides overall means the top two teams would go through from each group to a round of 32 knockout stage.

The planned changes would come into force at the 2026 tournament and a source told AFP that "every qualified team would play at least two group matches. The top two in each group would then go through to the last 32."

The BBC has also been told that Infantino believes the format "shares the World Cup experience with the world” given that it would offer more teams a chance at the event.

The Swiss-Italian first mentioned the idea in October, explaining that there could be a preliminary round of 32 teams that play in a knockout tie, with the winners joining 16 seeded teams in the group stages. He said: "Whether it will be 40 or 48, it was a positive discussion. I don't agree it will dilute the quality.

"I would like to remind you that in the last World Cup, England and Italy were eliminated by Costa Rica. The level of football is increasing all over the world.

"In a 48-team format, the quality would be higher because the 32 teams would have a play off. The quality would improve and not decrease in any way."

But the latest proposals seem to suggest that the 48 teams would all enter the competition on level footing.

FIFA's Council will meet in early January in Zurich to make the final decision.

Sure, just what we need – more football! As if there wasn't enough disillusionment with the international game, as seen in this country by the utter lack of excitement drawn from the appointment of new England manager Gareth Southgate, now there will be more foisted upon us.

On the surface of it, this seems like good news for the smaller nations – a place at the top table, a chance at the biggest tournament of them all. But when you delve into the detail it just doesn't seem to make sense.

Although it is unclear exactly how the format would work, with the quote from the source above citing "at least two group matches" sounding especially strange, it seems as though Infantino has moved away from the idea of an initial knockout phase, where 16 teams would return home after one match. But groups of three is not much better, with some sides potentially only staying at the event for around a week – playing just twice following years of preparation. In either structure, one bad game could mean the end of the tournament - especially as groups of three lends itself to a mutually beneficial result for the two teams in action in the final game.

At least in the current format, any team could recover from a defeat in the group stages and still reach the knockout round. But Infantino's idea will encourage conservative, stodgy football, from teams petrified of being eliminated early. And we had enough of that at Euro 2016.

There will be one winner of course – FIFA. The expanded format will increase the number of (pointless) matches, probably the length of the tournament, and revenue from sponsors. It will pile more pressure on fans that are already struggling financially to travel the world and support their team and perhaps even reduce the number of matches in which they are guaranteed to see their country at a major tournament to two. That is, unless there is a plan for more group stage matches that hasn't been revealed yet.

"It's my philosophy to drive forward the expansion of football," said disgraced former president Sepp Blatter in 2010 after awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Now Infantino wants to "share the World Cup experience with the world". Bigger is always better, apparently.