The first ever 32-club Club World Cup will take place between June and July 2025 in the United States, reports suggest. It will be played every 4 years just like the World Cup, Euros, Copa America and all continental national tournaments.
32 teams will be divided in 8 groups from which each top 2 teams will advance to knockout stages.
12 clubs from UEFA qualify to the competition. They will be the CL winners of the last four editions (Chelsea, Real Madrid and Man City+2023/24 CL winner), with the remaining 8 clubs to be picked based on the UEFA ranking.
1. They are killing football for us match going fans. Bigger UEFA Champions League, bigger UEFA Euro 2024, bigger FIFA Club World Cup and bigger FIFA World Cup 2026 than previous tournaments in the past. The big games lose their value if they are played all the time. https://t.co/XPkaxmmb4c
— Douglas Bagley (@dougbagleyfdl) September 21, 2023
This decision comes at a time when the topic of tense schedules and big overtimes in games is heated and a lot of players and players’ associations are in dialogue with the federations regarding the overload on footballers’ bodies.