The organisation representing Europe’s leading clubs has rejected calls for the World Cup to be expanded, BBC Sport has reported.
Earlier this month, Fifa president Gianni Infantino proposed a 48-team tournament consisting of 16 groups of three countries each.
The European Club Association (ECA) say the number of games played in a year is already at an “unacceptable level”.
“We urge Fifa not to increase the number of World Cup participants,” said ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Fifa’s council will discuss Infantino’s proposal at a meeting on 9 January but the 46-year-old made expansion part of his election manifesto because he wants to allow more countries the chance to compete at football’s flagship event.
The number of teams competing at a World Cup last increased in 1998 when the tournament expanded from 24 to 32 countries but any change to the current structure would not be likely to take effect before the 2026 World Cup.
Rummenigge added: “We have to focus on the sport again. Politics and commerce should not be the exclusive priority in football.”
The ECA represents more than 200 clubs, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport’s global governing body.
The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.
The current champion is Germany, which won its fourth title at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
