FIFA president Gianni Infantino has announced plans to reformat and expand the current Club World Cup to be "like a [international] World Cup". The Swiss-Italian football administrator announced the plans on Friday morning, claiming there will also be a similar setup for a Women's Club World Cup.
Infantino told reporters: "The new men’s Club World Cup will take place in 2025 and will feature 32 teams. 32-team tournament will go ahead, making it like a World Cup."
It calls into question the scheduling issues that could face clubs competing in the tournament, given the already packed fixture calendar they face. The original format had one team from each dedicated continental governing body, hosting seven teams that had won their respective Champions League.
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It begins with a playoff round between the winners of the Oceania Championship and the winner of the host country's league. They then progress to face one of the Asian Champions, North American Champions or African Champions in the quarter-final rounds.
The semi-finals see the introduction of the European Champions and the South American Champions, with the winner of those games facing off in the final. The most recent winners are Chelsea, who beat Palmeiras 2-1 after extra-time in February this year to be crowned Champions of the World.
However, with the games scheduled for February consequently throwing out the rest of their planned games, it left then Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel with a sour taste in his mouth. The German coach questioned player welfare amid so many fixtures being played across all competitions.
"The game is for the players and for the spectators - and spectators want to have the top players on the pitch," the German coach said back in 2021. "They want them healthy, fit, in shape and hungry. You cannot always provide it if you play so many games in so many different competitions."
With the 32-team tournament set to add even more games to the schedule, there will remain questions over whether player welfare is being put first. The change comes in line with Infantino claiming that FIFA revenues are set to jump from $7.5billion (£6.149bn) in the current four-year cycle (2018-2022) to $11billion (£9bn) in the next four-years (2022-2026), as per football money expert Nick Harris.
It remains to be seen how qualifying would work for such a large tournament, compared to the current system of winning the continent's respective Champions League, however it could see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham involved from 2025. If the 32-team tournament is likely to play out similar to an actual World Cup, there could be as many as 64 games played out over the duration.
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