FIFA delays decision to expand World Cup field to 40 teams

Expanding the World Cup to 40 teams is under consideration, although the decision to add eight more teams was deferred by FIFA's executive committee on Thursday.

The proposal was one of many offered by the 2016 FIFA Reform Committee during in Zurich, the latest effort to restructure the scandal-plagued soccer governing body.

Expansion — which would not occur until the 2026 tournament, at the earliest — would “enhance the universality of FIFA and to enlarge the basis for participation at major competitions” the FIFA Reform Committee wrote in its proposal.

Earlier Thursday, two FIFA vice presidents — Juan Angel Napout from Paraguay and Alfredo Hawit Banegas of Honduras — were taken into custody and as many as 16 FIFA officials were targeted for arrest as Swiss authorities raided Zurich's Baur au Lac hotel, according to published reports.

The arrests were made on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department as part of its ongoing racketeering conspiracy and corruption investigation.

FIFA last expanded the World Cup field (from 24 to 32) at the 1998 World Cup.