Michel Platini Announces Plans For a 40 Nation World Cup

UEFA President Michel Platini wants to expand the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams. Platini is expected to challenge Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2015, and the interview may be the first step in the Frenchman sowing the seeds to win votes and hearts of soccer federations around the globe.

Platini said, in the interview with The Times newspaper:

“It’s not based on the quality of the teams because you don’t have the best 32 at the World Cup. But it’s a good compromise.

“It’s a political matter so why not have more Africans? The competition is to bring all the people of all the world. If you don’t give the possibility to participate, they don’t improve.”

Under Platini’s plan, he would add one team from Europe and give seven World Cup places to other countries around the globe. Platini added that it would only add three days to the World Cup competition.

The competition would be eight groups of five instead of eight groups of four.