Any plan to increase the size of the tournament field — at least four options for expansion were said to have been discussed on Tuesday, including variants for 48 teams and 40 teams — seemed specifically tailored to appeal to smaller soccer nations, particularly those in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean that often feel underrepresented at the World Cup. An expanded field of 48 teams in 2014, for example, might have included Egypt, Jamaica, Jordan, New Zealand and Tunisia.

The issue of expansion had divided the global soccer community since Infantino proposed it as part of his campaign to replace Sepp Blatter, who stepped down in 2015 amid a corruption scandal that led to the arrests of several members of FIFA’s leadership. The concept faced particular resistance in Europe, which has always had a disproportionate share of the automatic places in the tournament.

The European Club Association, which represents 220 clubs on the Continent, said in a statement that the current 32-team format was “the perfect formula from all perspectives.” It added, “We understand that this decision has been taken based on political reasons rather than sporting ones and under considerable political pressure, something E.C.A. believes is regrettable.”

Reinhard Grindel, the president of the soccer federation of Germany, the reigning World Cup champion, encapsulated other arguments against the plan last week when he publicly warned that the overall quality of play would be diluted and that the increased burdens on players could cause rifts between clubs and national teams.

“I think that even if you organized a World Cup with two teams, one of the two teams would be Germany,” Infantino said. “I hope that with time we can discuss it, and they can see the benefit for the world.”

Besides the current 32-team format and the new format approved on Tuesday, there were three other options on the table for the council to ponder: 40 teams with eight groups of five (88 games); 40 teams with 10 groups of four (76 games); and 48 teams, but with 16 seeds and a 32-team, single-elimination round before a 32-team group stage (80 games).

The World Cup tournament began in 1930, in Uruguay, with 13 teams, but as recently as 1978, it was still capped at 16, with only one entrant each from Asia and Africa.