CLUB WORLD CUP
Club World Cup set for June-July 2025, new Intercontinental Cup in 2024, says FIFA
FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup planned for 2025 and set to feature 32 teams will be played from June 15 to July 13, while a new Intercontinental Cup will be played annually from 2024, Gianni Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, said on Dec 17.
The announcement drew criticism from the global players’ union Fifpro as well as the World Leagues Forum (WLF), an organisation representing 44 major professional leagues that is chaired by Premier League chief Richard Masters.
FIFA had announced an expanded Club World Cup earlier in 2023 and unanimously voted the United States as hosts for the first edition of the event.
The Fifa council meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to ratify the dates for the Club World Cup, also confirmed that 2024’s Intercontinental Cup would have the Champions League winners playing a team who came through intercontinental play-offs, which will be played on Dec 14, 2024, followed by the final four days later.
The 2025 edition of the Club World Cup, which will be held every four years, will have eight groups of four with the top two teams from each group going through to the knockout stages – the same format as the World Cup.
Four European places have been given to the winners of the Champions League dating back to 2021, namely Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, as well as the eventual victors of the 2024 campaign.
A further five clubs from the continent have already qualified for the 2025 tournament thanks to their Uefa ranking: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Porto and Benfica.
The current version of the Club World Cup – an annual competition with seven teams – will be discontinued after the 2023 tournament, which is under way in Saudi Arabia.
The existing format sees the European and South American champions enter the tournament in the semi-final phase, while champions from the other confederations come through earlier rounds.
The dates of the Club World Cup, however, give European teams who qualify little time to rest between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. The European season traditionally ends in May, with the Champions League final taking place by the first week of June, while the new season kicks off in August.
WLF chair Masters said they were unhappy that they had been overlooked in Fifa’s decision-making process.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Masters told Infantino that the expansion of Fifa’s competitions in recent years was detrimental to other football stakeholders and accused the global body of prioritising their own interests.
Masters also said the June-July schedule would impact player availability for national leagues at the start of the season in August, while he also raised questions about player workload and health risks.
Fifpro said the decision to add a bigger Club World Cup at the end of the European season demonstrated “a lack of consideration” for players’ physical and mental health, and disregarded their personal and family lives.
“The expanded competition will undercut the rest and recovery time of these players at the end of the 2024-25 season, and further disrupt national employment markets by changing the balance between national and international competitions,” Fifpro said in a statement.
“Players will have to perform at the end of an 11-month season with little prospect of getting enough rest before the following season starts.”
“The extreme mental and physical pressures at the pinnacle of the game is the principal concern of players with multiple club and national team competitions, leading to exhaustion, physical injuries, mental health issues, diminished performance, and risks to career longevity,” it added.
Reuters/AFP
Controversy has erupted following Chelsea’s dramatic victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup final, with reports suggesting that the trophy presented to the English club is a replica – and that the original remains in the possession of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Blues clinched the inaugural edition of the revamped tournament at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 13, with captain Reece James receiving the silverware from Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
However, social media and the international press have been ablaze with claims that the trophy lifted during the celebrations was not the authentic one.
Videos from the post-match ceremony showed Trump lingering on the podium well after the presentation, standing beside James as he hoisted the trophy. This unusual move immediately drew attention.
Now, the intrigue has deepened following Trump’s own remarks in an interview with sports broadcaster DAZN, in which he admitted that the original trophy was currently “in his office at the White House.”
According to sources, Infantino unveiled the redesigned Club World Cup trophy at the White House shortly after Trump returned to office earlier this year, following his election win over Kamala Harris.
It now appears that the original trophy never left the presidential residence, prompting FIFA to commission a replica for the ceremony in New Jersey.
Adding fuel to the fire, Trump was also seen pocketing one of the winner’s medals during the event.
Infantino had handed him a medal, presumably for inspection, but the U.S. President was later spotted slipping it inside his blazer.
This led to online jokes among fans, with some suggesting he had taken the medal intended for Chelsea winger Noni Madueke, who left the squad just before the final to complete a surprise move to Arsenal.
Madueke was reportedly seen partying with Jadon Sancho at the Wireless Festival in London while Chelsea celebrated across the Atlantic.
The incident has cast an odd shadow over what was otherwise a historic moment for Chelsea, marking their first triumph under the new Club World Cup format.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup set to take place in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, and the final returning to MetLife Stadium, questions may linger over the relationship between football’s global leadership and its most controversial political host.
FIFA has yet to comment officially on the trophy replica claims.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
U.S. President Donald Trump paid homage to soccer great Pele after being met with boos and cheers from the crowd at the Club World Cup final on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Chelsea walloped Paris St Germain 3-0 to close out the newly expanded version of the tournament, designed as a glittering curtain-raiser for the 2026 World Cup that the U.S. will co-host with Mexico and Canada.
Trump was seated next to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino in box seats at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where fans booed him when he appeared briefly on the jumbotron during the U.S. national anthem.
He was on his feet in the same VIP suite after Chelsea completed their thrashing of Paris St Germain, pumping his fist as congratulatory music blared.
Trump was met with boos from the crowd again as he posed with the match referees on the pitch during the trophy ceremony, as organisers kept the music pumping in the stadium.
He handed Chelsea their trophy and stood in the middle of the players for their team photo and celebration.
“I knew he was going to be there but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy so I was a bit confused,” said Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer, who scored two goals during the match.
Asked in a TV interview who he believed was soccer’s “GOAT,” Trump named Brazilian icon Pele, who helped spark interest in the sport in the U.S. in his brief time playing for the New York Cosmos in the fledgling North American Soccer League in 1975.
“I came to watch Pele, and he was fantastic,” Trump told broadcaster DAZN. “That’s like saying Babe Ruth, but I would say Pele was so great.”
Trump has embraced sport’s super-sized spotlight during his second term, becoming the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl in February.
In May, he announced D.C. as the host for the 2027 NFL Draft from the Oval Office. He regularly attends UFC and has said he wants to host such fights at the White House next year.
FIFA announced last week that it had opened an office in New York’s Trump Tower ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico. A record 48 national teams are set to take part.
Trump’s appearance at MetLife came a day after he threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union, an escalation of a trade war that has angered U.S. allies and rattled investors.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Cole Palmer produced a scintillating first-half masterclass as Chelsea demolished Paris St Germain 3-0 to win the Club World Cup final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
The English attacking midfielder scored twice and provided an assist for Joao Pedro in a devastating display in the revamped tournament’s decider that left the European and French champions, who finished with 10 men, shell-shocked before the break.
Chelsea struck first in the 22nd minute when PSG fullback Nuno Mendes gifted possession to Malo Gusto. While his initial effort was blocked by Mendes, Gusto collected the rebound and found Palmer unmarked in the middle and the midfielder made no mistake, slotting a tidy finish just inside the left post.
Palmer doubled the lead after the 30th-minute cooling break with a goal of sublime quality. Latching onto a precise through ball from Levi Colwill, he cut inside before faking a pass to dummy a defender and firing into the bottom-left corner.
Palmer then turned provider, running up the channel before finding Joao Pedro, who took the ball in his stride and beat the offside trap before chipping his finish beautifully over keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
PSG’s misery was completed when Joao Neves was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair in the 83rd minute.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup1 week ago
BREAKING: At last FIFA’s Axe falls on South Africa!
- World Cup1 week ago
South Africa to Appeal FIFA Ruling Over Mokoena Eligibility Case
- Nigerian Football1 week ago
Super Eagles Set for Double Friendly Showdown with Venezuela and Colombia in USA
- World Cup1 week ago
Sport Minister Orders Probe into SAFA over Bafana’s Costly Points Deduction
- World Cup6 days ago
FIFA Sanction on South Africa Offers Super Eagles a Lifeline — But a Lesson from History Looms
- CAF Confederation Cup1 week ago
Asante Kotoko End Kwara United’s Confederation Cup Campaign in Abeokuta
- U-20 FOOTBALL1 week ago
Two penalty appeal lost as Flying Eagles stumble at first hurdle
- World Cup4 days ago
Super Eagles Walk Tightrope as Nine Key Players Risk Suspension in World Cup Qualifiers