FIFA said it discussed with Qatar if a 48-team tournament was feasible if certain FIFA requirements were lowered, but that both parties concluded an analysis of the impact of that decision could not be concluded in time for a vote in Paris. An internal analysis by FIFA earlier this year had concluded that Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Bahrain — three of the countries taking part in the blockade of Qatar — could not be considered as potential co-hosts as long as the two-year-old blockade remained in effect. And its gulf neighbor Oman, one of two neutral countries that FIFA had pinned its hopes on to absorb some of the added matches required by a 48-team field, said recently that it could not prepare itself in time. With the first matches of the 2022 World Cup qualifying cycle set for June in Asia, Qatari officials and FIFA concluded they had run out of time to pursue expansion.

Source: New York Times May 22, 2019 19:14 UTC