President Infantino announce FIFA Club World Cup from 2025 onward, will feature 32 teams
A ground-breaking announcement revealed that the world’s biggest showpiece for club football, the FIFA Club World Cup, will be expanding to 32 teams.
FIFA Club World Cup expands to 32 teams
The FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, announced on Friday that a total of 32 teams will be featuring in the Club World Cup from 2025 after facing a delay due to COVID.
“There will be a club World Cup with 32 teams held every four years. And the first edition would be held in the summer of 2025. It will be in the slot of the Confederations Cup,” said Gianni Infantino.
The tournament has already been postponed ample times to everyone’s disappointment, firstly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then again in 2021, to accommodate the occurrence of the Copa and Euro cups, said Infantino.
The FIFA Club World Cup is set to become the second FIFA tournament to undergo an expansion in the number of participating teams. The 2026 edition of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, was also announced to be expanded to 48 total teams from the current 32-team format.
The currently played format of the tournament comprises seven teams playing in a 10-day format, where champions from North America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia clash in the quarterfinals. The winners of this draw face the champions from Europe and South America in the semi-finals before the two teams make it to the grand finale showdown.
FIFA Club World Cup participants
Seattle Sounders from the USA (North America), Spain’s Real Madrid (Europe), Wydad from Morocco (Africa), and Auckland City from New Zealand (Oceania) are the teams to have sealed their deal in the 2022 showdown to be played in Morocco in February.
The rest of the details are still being discussed on the tables and will be disclosed by FIFA. Infantino also added that planning for the Women’s Club World Cup is underway. FIFA has also introduced the FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup. The Under-17 World Cups by FIFA are also about to be changed to an annually occurring format.
Gianni Infantino also boasted FIFA’s expected revenue to be generated, which is USD 11 Billion for the four-year cycle between 2022 and 2026, excluding the FIFA Club World Cup.
