You might have missed it, but further details about the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup were released last week. The inaugural tournament, in which 32 teams from across the globe will compete over four weeks in the United States, now has an official emblem.
That’s right; on Sept. 4, FIFA released the logo and audio signature for the competition. As for detail as to where exactly the games will be played, FIFA has yet to reveal that information. So with just nine months to go until the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off on June 15, competing teams and their supporters have no idea whether they will be travelling to New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle or Los Angeles. Or somewhere else entirely.
But the competition is happening, and it is why global players’ union FIFPRO and European Leagues (which represents 39 leagues in 33 countries) have been engaged in a legal dispute with FIFA since July over what they allege to be the world governing body’s “abuse of dominance” in the game. FIFA responded by accusing the leagues of “hypocrisy.”
High-profile coaches and players including Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Robert Lewandowski, have raised concerns over the demands being placed on players by the Club World Cup with burnout — physically and mentally — a fear within the game.
But what is the reality of the FIFA Club World Cup and why is it proving to be so controversial?
What is the FIFA Club World Cup?
The competition is the brainchild of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who first promoted the idea of a 32-team Club World Cup in 2016.
Between 1960 and 2004, the champions of Europe and South America met to contest the Inter-Continental Cup until that competition developed into the FIFA Club World Cup, a seven-team tournament involving the champions of FIFA’s six continental confederations and a team from the host nation, staged from 2005 onward.
FIFA had planned to launch the expanded version of the tournament, initially with 24 teams, in 2021 in China, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation. In June 2023, FIFA confirmed that it would launch a 32-team Club World Cup in the U.S. in 2025, scheduling the tournament over a four-week period from June 15-July 13.
“Thirty-two of the best clubs from all corners of the world will be competing in the United States in June and July 2025,” Infantino said. “They are at the heart of the tournament. And we cannot wait. Thirty-two of the best clubs globally will meet on the world stage and only one will be crowned world champions.”
Which teams will be competing?
Twelve European teams, including Real Madrid and Manchester City, will represent UEFA, with six South American clubs filling the CONMEBOL slots. Asia (AFC), Africa (CAF) and North & Central America (CONCACAF) each get four clubs with Oceania (OFC) given one berth and a final position going to the U.S. as host nation.
In most cases, the slots are taken by the continental champions of recent years, but UEFA and CONMEBOL also provide teams based on a four-year ranking, which is why Austrian club FC Salzburg are taking one of Europe’s 12 slots.
Qualification is based on recent performances rather than the size of the club, which is why Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona failed to make the cut. In Europe, only two teams from each national league can participate, unless the same league has provided the last three Champions League winners.
Why is there so much opposition to the competition?
Club owners have been conspicuously silent on the FIFA Club World Cup but managers, players and unions, including FIFPRO and Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) in England, have all flagged concerns over an increasing workload.
Manchester City face 75 competitive games this season if they reach the Club World Cup final and their campaign won’t end until July 13. With the 2025-26 Premier League season expected to start on Aug. 10, to enable a rest period between the end of the campaign and start of the next FIFA World Cup on June 11, 2026, Pep Guardiola and his players would have just a month between one season ending and another beginning.
All players are entitled to at least three weeks’ holiday, so the logjam facing competing clubs — particularly European teams — is clear. Sources have told ESPN that the Premier League is concerned by the imposition of the Club World Cup in the summer window — a space usually taken by international football.
Is there any support for the Club World Cup?
FIFA sources say the tournament will ensure a greater spread of profile and financial resources to clubs and leagues outside the hugely powerful European market.
There is an acceptance that the first tournament may highlight a gulf in standard between some teams — New Zealand’s Auckland City could play Real Madrid, for example — but FIFA sees the Club World Cup as a tournament that will soon grow into one that will generate global interest just like the international World Cup.
And while players and coaches have voiced their concerns, the financial benefits of the competition will appeal to club owners. Sources have said that prize money for the top teams could exceed $100 million each. Eventual winners Real Madrid banked $131m for winning the UEFA Champions League last season, so the money at stake for one months’ work in the Club World Cup will be huge.
What do we know about the 2025 Club World Cup?
It’s more a case of what we don’t know. The lack of clarity is adding to a view within the game that FIFA’s Club World Cup plans have not been fully stress-tested.
We do know the dates of the competition and which teams will participate, save for the winners of the 2024 Copa Libertadores and MLS Cup. And, of course, we now have the competition emblem and even the official song: Gala’s “Freed from Desire.” But we don’t know when the draw for the tournament will take place or which cities will host the games.
Usually in FIFA tournaments of this magnitude, everything related to games — venues, dates, kickoff times — is finalised and announced years in advance, but competing clubs are still waiting to be told where they will play and be based.
Sources have said that the original plan was for the Club World Cup be staged in cities on the east coast of the U.S. due to reasons such as it offering a more suitable time zone for European broadcasters, less travel for European teams and also because the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup will be staged on the West Coast between June 14 and July 6.
The East Coast remains the most likely outcome, but the qualification of Seattle Sounders — one of the best-supported teams in MLS – may yet lead to the Pacific Northwest being considered for some games.
There is also an issue over who will broadcast the Club World Cup. FIFA announced in mid-July that it had opened a bidding tender for broadcast rights after it was reported that talks with Apple had stalled due to the tech giant’s $1 billion bid falling way short of FIFA’s $4bn asking price.
Is there a chance it might not go ahead next summer?
Plenty of people in the game would like to see the Club World Cup scrapped, but that isn’t going to happen. Nearly all the participating teams have been announced and the prospect of a hefty financial claim by all of them if FIFA pulled the plug is a real one.
Sources have told ESPN that last week’s announcement of the tournament emblem, while low-key, marked the start of the build-up toward more significant news about the tournament. Sources have told ESPN that host cities and the date of the tournament draw will be announced before the end of 2024.
The legal action undertaken by FIFPRO and the European Leagues is ongoing and PFA CEO Maheta Molango told ESPN in August that the players’ union could “absolutely not” discount the prospect of strike action if their fears over burnout were not addressed.
So there are potential obstacles in front of FIFA and its plans to launch a 32-team Club World Cup, but the ball is rolling towards the tournament and it would be a seismic development if the competition does not go ahead.
