DOHA, Qatar — FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on Friday the introduction of a new 32-team men’s Club World Cup to launch in June 2025.
As part of his closing news conference at the World Cup in Qatar, Infantino said during a meeting of the FIFA Council held earlier in the day, it was decided the competition will take place every four years and replaces the 24-team version originally due to take place in 2021, subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Club World Cup is a seven-team competition, the latest instalment of which took place in February where Chelsea beat Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi.
“The first edition will take place in 2025 in the summer,” Infantino said. “During that slot where in the past we used to have the Confederations Cup and it will be slightly longer because obviously there are 32 teams.
“But they will be the best teams in the world. They will be invited to participate. All of the details will be developed in due course, and we’ll decide where it will take place as well over the next few weeks or months in consultation with all of the stakeholders.
“Of course, the details of that still need to be discussed and agreed, but the 32-team tournament will go ahead, making it really like a World Cup
“FIFA Council has taken the decision now as a matter of principle to hold that Club World Cup. But don’t forget we were the only football organisation in the world, I think anyway, at the international level and not to have organised the competition during the pandemic.
“Everyone else postponed their competitions, then shorten them and played them and we had a Club World Cup planned in 2020 with 24 teams. That was cancelled. It wasn’t replaced or postponed.
“We did that because we wanted to allow for the Copa America, the Euros and we wanted to protect the health and wellbeing of players and not overburden the calendar.”
