SUMMARY
- FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be a 32-team tournament that will last a whole month during the club season break.
- FIFA reasoned that this tournament is more attractive to sponsors.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is going to be a full-blown tournament. From a tournament that was much smaller in scale and did not take up a lot of time, the CWC will now take a month from the season break.
The biggest clubs from all over the world will assemble in the United States of America to compete for the prestigious title. However, will the title actually be prestigious? Will all the top teams play their best players in the tournament? The answers can be yes and no. Let’s take a look at what the competition was like previously and how it will be now. Later, we can figure out the winners and losers of the new concept.
The FIFA Club World Cup was a 10-day tournament with only 7 teams involved
The latest edition of the FIFA Club World Cup was played in December 2023. It was the 20th edition of the CWC and officially it was known as the FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023. The participating teams were Fluminense (CONMEBOL), Manchester City (UEFA), Japan Urawa Red Diamonds (AFC), Al Ahly (CAF), León (CONCACAF), Auckland City (OFC), and Al-Ittihad (AFC) (host).
FULL-TIME | #ClubWC WINNERS! 🌍🏆
🩵 4-0 🔴 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/MmRfc6fYxE
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 22, 2023
The tournament began on December 12, 2023. There was one match in the first round and two matches in the second round that led to the semi-finals and final. Including the 3rd place playoffs, a total of seven matches were played in the tournament. Manchester City were crowned champions on December 22, 2023.
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will last a month and involve 32 teams
The planned 21st edition of the FIFA CWC will be held on the East Coast of the USA. The tournament is scheduled to begin on June 15, 2024, and end on July 13, 2024. A normal club season ends by the end of May. Players of 32 teams will be expected to don their club jerseys again for another month.
The first-ever 32-team edition of the #ClubWC, due to take place in 2025, will be held in the United States. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/a0tNt2AOLc
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) June 23, 2023
The AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF have four slots. CONMEBOL has six slots. UEFA has 12 slots. OFC has one slot. The remaining slot will be given to CONCACAF (USA) this year as hosts. Teams like Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Fluminese, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahly have already qualified.
All the slots will be completely filled only a few weeks before the tournament starts as continental competitions will complete around May-end and June first week.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Winners and Losers
Well, when FIFA chief Gianni Infantino suggested a 32-team CWC in 2017, it was reported that a longer version would be more attractive to broadcasters and sponsors. That makes it clear that FIFA wins because they are going to mint money with another tournament. What about the losers in this situation? Well, obviously, they are the players.
After playing an approximate 10-month league season, players will be expected to continue playing for another month for their clubs. Traditionally, this is when international tournaments would take place. So, the players are losing out either way.
2023 #ClubWC ✅
The next edition of the FIFA Club World Cup — a new, expanded 32-team tournament — will be held in the United States from 15 June to 13 July 2025. pic.twitter.com/YWpSMTULUX
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) December 23, 2023
The cramped-up schedule is now showing clearly for the players of teams who are alive in continental competitions as well as club competitions. There is no doubt why City won the treble last year. It is because they possess an oil well of money that has helped them build a squad that can last them tournament after tournament. Every team cannot do that. This brings us to the next question- Is soccer only for the rich now?
Well, seemingly it is. The clubs on the lower end of the financial spectrum are struggling to compete against the top half. Moreover, with Saudi now competing against everyone and injecting even more money than there already was, it is becoming more cruel for the not-so-rich teams.
The FIFA CWC 2025 will rake in money for all the organizations involved. Sponsors and broadcasters will be willing to shell out millions to join their names with the tournament.
We had a meeting last week with the FA. They recommended from the referees new decisions and rules.
From the managers and players, we have shared our concerns for many years now that there are too many games, the schedule is overcrowded, and it’s at a dangerous level for…
— Raphaël Varane (@raphaelvarane) August 7, 2023
However, can players make it a failure? They probably can. The biggest attractions will be the European teams. Players of these teams will have played almost 60-70 matches over the course of the season. They will probably have the right to skip the tournament and take a well-deserved break. If that happens, the tournament will no longer be considered a major tournament.
But, then again, FIFA might have considered this scenario as well. We can never say if there are stipulations on the teams to make their top players play so that the attraction lives on. What is clear is that the players are being overworked so that more money can be generated. This might affect the game in the long run.