BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American soccer's ruling body CONMEBOL, made an official proposal on Thursday to expand the men’s 2030 World Cup to 64 teams.
The proposal was first introduced last month by a delegate from Uruguay during an online meeting of FIFA's ruling council chaired by its president, Gianni Infantino, that blindsided officials from Europe.
“We are convinced that the centennial celebration will be unique because 100 years are celebrated only once,” Dominguez said during his opening speech at CONMEBOL’s 80th Ordinary Congress.
The 2030 World Cup is already set to be the most sprawling edition with six host nations spread across three continents.
Uruguay was the original World Cup host in 1930 and is scheduled to stage one game. Paraguay, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are also co-hosts.
“That is why we are proposing, for the first time, to hold this anniversary with 64 teams, on three continents simultaneously,” added Domínguez.
There were 32 teams in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That number will be expanded to 48 at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Expanding to 64 teams likely would guarantee all 10 CONMEBOL member countries a place in a bigger tournament. Venezuela is the only one that has never qualified for a World Cup.
“This will allow all countries to have the opportunity to live the world experience and so nobody on the planet is left out of the party,” added Dominguez.
If FIFA approves the move, it would create a tournament of 128 matches, double the number of the 64-game format that was played from 1998 through 2022.
Infantino has consistently pushed for bigger and new tournaments in his presidency since 2016, seeking more revenue to give to FIFA’s 211 member federations and more chances for their national team to qualify.
However, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has called a 64-team World Cup ‘a bad idea’.
Critics of the 64-team proposal have argued it will weaken the quality of play and devalue the qualifying program in most continents.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Alejandro Dominguez, president of CONMEBOL, enters the stadium during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match between Venezuela and Canada, July 5, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Exxon Mobil’s first quarter profit slumped to the lowest level in years, stung by weaker crude prices and higher costs.
The oil and gas giant earned $7.71 billion, or $1.76 per share, for the three months ended March 31. It earned $8.22 billion, or $2.06 per share, in the year-ago period.
The results topped Wall Street expectations, but Exxon does not adjust its reported results based on one-time events such as asset sales. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected earnings of $1.74 per share.
Revenue totaled $83.13 billion, which fell short of the $84.15 billion that analysts were calling for.
This week, a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude fell below $60, a level at which many producers can no longer turn a profit.
“In this uncertain market, our shareholders can be confident in knowing that we’re built for this,” Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said in a statement Friday. “The work we’ve done to transform our company over the past eight years positions us to excel in any environment.”
Crude oil is down nearly 18% for the year to date, according to FactSet.
Oil prices plummeted last month, at one point sinking to a four-year low in anticipation of slowing economic growth due to a burgeoning trade war.
Trump announced far-reaching tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners April 2 and then reversed himself a few days later after a market meltdown, suspending the import taxes for 90 days. Amid the uncertainty for both U.S. consumers and businesses, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that the U.S. economy shrank 0.3% from January through March, the first drop in three years.
Rapidly falling oil prices signal pessimism about economic growth and can be a harbinger of a recession as manufacturers cut production, businesses cut travel costs and families rethink vacation plans.
And there appears to be little appetite for turn off the spigots by some of the world's largest producers.
In December eight members of the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries signaled they would not cut production as they compete with production from non-allied oil producing countries.
The OPEC+ members decided at the time to postpone production increases that had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The plan had been to start gradually restoring 2.2 million barrels per day over the course of 2025.
That process was pushed back to April 1 and production increases will gradually take place over 18 months until October 2026.
Shares of Exxon Mobil rose slightly before the market open.
FILE - Oil pumps work in the desert oil fields of Sakhir, Bahrain, Sept. 30, 2015. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)
