In a letter to members of the ruling FIFA Council, Infantino outlined the five options for increasing the number of teams at the quadrennial showpiece and he appears to be pushing for it to grow to 48.

The options include two 40-team formats, two 48-team tournaments and keeping its current make up of 32 countries.

Infantino's preferred plans involve all qualified teams being drawn into one of 16 three-team groups, with the nation which finishes bottom in each going home after playing two matches.

The 32 successful nations would then feature in a straight knockout format and FIFA are hopeful the new proposal for a 48-team structure would be easier for fans to understand.

Participating countries would also only play a maximum of seven matches, as is the case in the current format, reducing the potential effect on club sides.

The other 48-team option would see the introduction of a play-off round before the main group stage.

Sixteen teams would exit at the preliminary phase, with the remaining 32 proceeding to the usual group and knockout phase structure.

Plans to stage an event involving 40 nations, with countries split into eight groups of five or ten groups of four - where the group winners and the six best runners-up would progress - are also on the table.

It appears the least likely option is retaining the 32-team format which has been in place since the 1998 edition of FIFA's most lucrative event in France.

FIFA agreed to look into the possible expansion to either 40 or 48 teams at their next Council meeting, due to be held in Zurich in January, in October.

A decision is likely to be made at the meeting, with any changes to the World Cup taking effect from the 2026 competition onwards.

It comes as part of the pledges made by Infantino in his campaign for the FIFA Presidency, where he first touted the opportunity of expanding the World Cup to allow more countries to take part.

The proposals are likely to face opposition, however, with many claiming there is not anything wrong with the 32-team structure, which will remain in place at the next two editions of the tournament - in Russia in 2018 and in Qatar four years later.