FIFA unveil plans for a 32-team Club World Cup in 2025

FIFA guidelines on Changes in Summer Transfer Window
FIFA guidelines on Changes in Summer Transfer Window

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that the football organisation will launch a 32-team men’s Club World Cup in 2025.

The world football’s governing body has always wanted to have a domestic competition in place that can rival the UEFA Champions League. Their first attempt at hosting the event came four years ago. However, they could not hold the event when they first proposed it due to the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

However, plans are currently being hatched to see to it that the event holds in a larger format. The current Club World Cup features just seven teams who are the winners of each confederation’s most prestigious trophy.

But according to FIFA, they will change that old format and bring it more in line with the international World Cup.

In a press conference ahead of the final between Argentina and France on Sunday, FIFA president Infantino said: “As you will remember, we had agreed a few years ago to have a new men’s Club World Cup with 24 teams. This should have taken place in 2021 [but] was postponed because of Covid. The new men’s Club World Cup will therefore take place in 2025 and will feature 32 teams, the best teams in the world. Of course, the details of that still need to be discussed and agreed upon, but the 32-team tournament will go ahead, making it really like a World Cup.”

The FIFA president also revealed that the 2023 Club World Cup would be hosted by Morocco. 

Infantino also announced plans for a new Women’s Club World Cup and the launch of a FIFA World Series, a competition which will allow top nations from across the globe to compete on a more regular basis. 

“The importance of having matches between national teams of different continents more regularly, the idea of that, the principle, was agreed and elaborated on,” he added.

“[The plan] is to use the March windows in the even years, the World Cup years, the Euros years and the Copa America years, and organise friendly tournaments between four teams from four different confederations, so that way everyone can gain this experience of playing each other, under, of course, the FIFA umbrella, so the FIFA World Series type of events.”