FIFA’s plan to rejuvenate the Club World Cup in 2025 includes a potential exclusion clause for the Champions League victor from either Manchester United or Liverpool. This decision aims to address the longstanding challenge of garnering widespread support for the current format, which has faced dominance issues by Champions League winners since its inception in 2000.
The upcoming Club World Cup semi-finals feature Manchester City against Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds, with the winner meeting either Brazil’s Fluminense or Egypt’s Al Ahly. FIFA envisions expanding the 2025 event in the United States to include 32 teams every four years, restricting each country to two entries prioritizing Champions League winners from the previous four years.
Presently, English clubs Chelsea and Manchester City lead the rankings due to their 2021 Champions League victories. FIFA may reconsider its stance if a country produces more than two continental winners during the qualification period, allowing a club like Arsenal, with a potential Champions League win this year, to qualify.
Notably, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Tottenham are unlikely to feature in this year’s tournament, having not progressed to the Champions League knockout rounds. FIFA outlined qualification criteria in a Jeddah meeting, with Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Chelsea securing spots based on their 2022 Champions League victories. Invitations were extended to twelve European teams, while nine others were selected based on Champions League performance since 2020, including Benfica, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, and Porto. Teams like Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Barcelona, Juventus, Napoli, Red Bull Salzburg, Lazio, Arsenal, Copenhagen, Real Sociedad, and PSV have an opportunity to qualify by winning the current season’s Champions League.
Leave a Reply