World Cup 2022 organisers in Qatar are open to a 48-team event in principle if desired by the ruling football governing body FIFA. 

"It's doable, we just need to figure out how it is done. What's the format? We don't even know what that is," Nasser al-Khater, assistant secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, told international media representatives in Moscow Saturday.
"I think it's all in the format. If the format is done right, it could actually be an edition that is exciting."
FIFA has already raised the number of teams for the 2026 edition from 32 to 48, and is now - based on a proposal from South America which has been rejected for the time being by the FIFA council - looking into whether 48 teams could already play in Qatar.
"Our plans have been toward a 32 World Cup. Everything we have done is toward a 32-team World Cup," al-Khater said.
"If we see that it's in the benefit of football, the World Cup
itself, and we feel like it's going to add, we would be all for it. If we feel that it's not in favour of us or of football, we won't go for it."