FIFA president Gianni Infantino has announced new plans for the Club World Cup, with the men’s competition expanded to 32 teams.
Infantino also confirmed that the 2022 Club World Cup will be played in Morocco from February 1 to February 11 next year.
There will also be a new Club World Cup for women, for which details have not been revealed.
The new men’s 32-team format will begin in June 2025.
The new Club World Cup concept was originally planned to start in China in 2021 with 24 teams but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The details of the location still need to be discussed but it has been agreed and decided that a 32-team Club World Cup tournament will go ahead making it like a World Cup,” Infantino said at a FIFA press conference in Qatar today.
“I don’t know what the British press says or doesn’t say, but I know what we’ve decided and that is that there will be a Club World Cup of 32 teams to be played every four years and the first edition will take place in 2025 in the summer.
“During that slot where in other years it would be the Confederations Cup, it will be slightly longer because there are 32 teams so it will last a bit longer but they will be the best teams in the world who will all be invited to participate.
“The FIFA Council has taken the decision now as a matter of principle to hold that Club World Cup. Don’t forget that we were the only football organisation in the world, at least at international level, not to have organised a competition during the pandemic.”
Infantino shrugged off complaints that there will be too much football for the players, putting their health at risk.
He insisted that FIFA is always concerned about players’ well-being and will not do anything to harm them.
“Everyone else postponed their competitions (during Covid-19) but then shortened them or played them [at a later date] but we had a Club World Cup planned in 2020 with 24 teams that was cancelled,” he asserted.
“It wasn’t replaced or postponed, and we did that because we wanted to allow for the Copa America, the European Championships and we wanted to protect the health and well-being of players.
“We didn’t want to over-burden the calendar. That brings me to another issue and allows me to underscore that when we talk about the [FIFA] product over the next four years, the Club World Cup is not included in that $11bn forecast. That forecast is without taking into account this Club World Cup. So I think we’re going to have an even greater sum that we’ll be able to invest in world football over the next four years.”
