Gary Lineker ‘takes full responsibility’ in grovelling apology after sharing anti-Semitic post<\/a><\/p>\n![\"World](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%204884%203076'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\")
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The World Cup remains arguably the biggest sporting event on the planet, possibly second only to the Olympics<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
“Sixty-four teams is just too much in my opinion,” he stated firmly.<\/p>\n
He believes the current expansion to 48 teams, set to debut in 2026, strikes the right balance.<\/p>\n
“It still needs to be difficult to get to a World Cup,” Montagliani explained, warning that further expansion would devalue qualifying competitions.<\/p>\n
He also questioned whether even a 48-team tournament might present challenges with 104 matches instead of 64.<\/p>\n
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"World](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%203565%205319'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\")
<\/p>\n
England last won the World Cup in 1966, the only time they hosted the tournament<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Despite not yet hosting a men’s World Cup since 1966, Britain’s rich footballing heritage makes it an ideal candidate for future tournaments.<\/p>\n
The FIFA vice-president’s endorsement carries significant weight within football’s governing circles.<\/p>\n
With world-class stadiums, passionate fans and proven experience hosting major sporting events, the UK is well-positioned to make a compelling case.<\/p>\n
A successful men’s World Cup would further cement Britain’s status as the spiritual home of football and bring the beautiful game back to its roots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain has been urged to bid for the men’s World Cup by one of football’s most powerful figures,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,94,4884,1144,712,512,93,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-101676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-sgg","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114508035512825867","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Victor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/victor-montagliani.jpg\")
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