Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, has said that he hopes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be expanded to 48 teams, saying such an expansion is “possible” and “feasible”.

Responding to questions at the Asian Football Confederation’s annual congress in Kuala Lumpur about a possible expansion in 2022, Infantino referred to the 48-team World Cup to be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico in 2026.

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“We have decided … to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup final tournaments from 32 to 48. It will happen in 2026. Will it happen in 2022? You know me. It is possible, it is possible,” he said.

Infantino told the AFC’s national football associations that expanding the 2022 tournament would see the number of Asian countries’ teams competing in qualifying for the World Cup finals rise from 4.5 (four guaranteed and one play-off place) in a 32-nation tournament, to 8.5 for 48.

“You will have [a bigger] chance,” he said. “It is possible... It is feasible. We are discussing with our Qatari friends. We are discussing with many other friends in the region. We hope we have it happen. We always have to try.”

Qatar is spending billions building eight stadiums and constructing huge infrastructure to host a 32-team tournament, which it won the right to host in a vote by Fifa’s then executive committee in 2010. Since June last year the Gulf country’s neighbouring states, principally Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have shut their borders and denied their airspace to Qatar in a diplomatic conflict and blockade which has intensified the complexities of hosting the 2022 tournament.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fifa president Gianni Infantino was speaking at the Asian Football Confederation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Fazry Ismail/EPA

There have been suggestions that a 48-team tournament may lead to some matches being hosted by neighbouring countries, as a means of easing the diplomatic standoff. In an interview reported by the Associated Press, Infantino said he has already discussed with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the possibility of matches being shared, as a diplomatic exercise.

“I was discussing with [Qatar football] federation officials and also with the emir of Qatar,” Infantino said.

“They want to look at it together with us, what kind of options … sharing some matches with some other countries or not … These are topics that first, the Qataris, of course, have to be comfortable with. Could they [host an expanded World Cup] on their own? No.”

Infantino indicated that the emir had been open to discussing the idea. “When we speak it remains between us, of course,” Infantino said. “What is, I think, important is that [the emir] told us: ‘Let’s continue the discussions together and see if this can [work].’” Hassan Al-Thawadi, secretary general of the of the 2022 Qatar “supreme committee”, has previously said the country could be receptive to doing that, and that the possibility of expanding the tournament is being checked out.

“We are still looking at the feasibility studies and we will be in a better position to provide a feedback in the future,” Al-Thawadi told AFP thismonth. “But it will be decided before the qualifications … sometime in the first quarter of next year.”

The inclusion of Saudi Arabia as a host could be diplomatically incendiary, given worldwide repulsion at the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country’s consulate in Istanbul. Asked about that, Infantino replied, according to AP’s report:“There are other countries in the region as well.”