After doubts about Qatar's ability to organize the 2022 World Cup, FIFA has opened the door to a proposed amendment that could change the shape of the next World Cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the International Federation was looking to award the next edition of the World Cup to other countries along with Qatar, which may not be able to accommodate the participating teams alongside hundreds of thousands of supporters.
Infantino made the comments when he was talking about the possibility of increasing the number of participating teams to 48 instead of 32, starting from the next version.
The number of teams was due to increase from the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but FIFA is now considering applying the idea in the country version.
"We have decided to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup from 32 to 48, and this will happen at the World Cup in 2026," Infanto said at the annual meeting of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur.
"Will this happen in 2022? We are studying it, if possible, why not?"
But the FIFA president's plans, which he wants to implement in 2022, collide with the fact that Qatar is small and unable to accommodate an event of this size, as revealed by confessions by Qatari officials about the plan to host the fans.
Despite Qatar's impressive picture of the world's preparations for the World Cup, the reality on the ground seems to be different, amid doubts that the Doha system could accommodate large numbers of fans between 21 November and 18 December 2022.
Qatar's largest hotel owner, Katara, recently announced the installation of 20,000 hotel rooms on cruise ships in the Gulf to host tens of thousands of visitors.
But worse, the plan also includes the construction of tents in desert areas close to the stadiums to host the World Cup.
This seems to have prompted the participation of other countries in Qatar in hosting the 2022 World Cup, when he said: "We have to see if this is possible and feasible, we are looking at this with our Qatari friends and other friends in the region and we hope it will happen."
Country sources said earlier that the small country hopes to host one and a half million visitors during the month of the World Cup, mostly in the capital, which will cause a heavy burden on the infrastructure of Doha and its environs.
The rain that hit Qatar on Saturday exposed the depletion of the infrastructure of the country and the lack of readiness for such sudden events, knowing that the rain during the World Cup is strongly expected to be held in the fall.
Since the announcement of the victory of the Qatari file in the World Cup eight years ago, there are suspicions of corruption over the way Doha has established the World Cup, amid allegations of bribes of tens of millions of dollars to officials of the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) and continental and local unions.
