Madrid, Mar 16 (IANS): The Spanish Football League (La Liga) on Wednesday published a communique strongly criticising FIFA's decision taken on Tuesday to extend the 2026 World Cup to 104 matches, as well as introducing a 32-team Club World Cup, which will be held every four years from June 2025.

The decision for the 2026 World Cup, which will contain 48 teams instead of the 32 who played in Qatar last year, means there will be 40 more matches in the new World Cup, which will also last considerably longer than the month-long tournament in Qatar, reports Xinhua.

"FIFA continues its malpractice of making unilateral decisions on the world football calendar, showing complete disregard for the importance of national and local championships, and the football community in general," commented La Liga in a communique, accusing the world football governing body of putting its own interests in front of the needs of member associations.

"FIFA completely neglects the economic damage these decisions inflict on leagues around the world. Leagues were not consulted about any of the changes presented today, especially about the new annual club competition."