Carlo Ancelotti said Fifa can “forget about” Real Madrid featuring in the Club World Cup scheduled to take place in a revised format from 2025.
The new-look tournament, due to be staged between 13 June and 15 July next year, will include 32 clubs from across the globe. Already, 29 of the slots have been filled and Real Madrid are among them, having won the Champions League title in 2022 and 2024.
The Club World Cup has already come under criticism by Fifpro and the World Leagues Association who had called for the tournament to be rescheduled, citing economic harm to leagues and affecting the welfare of the players. Premier League and La Liga chiefs have threatened to boycott the competition.
“Fifa can forget about that,” Ancelotti said in an interview with Il Giornale and quoted by Relevo.
“Footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament.
“A single Madrid match is worth €20m and Fifa wants to give us that figure for the entire tournament: negative.
“Like us, several clubs will reject the invitation.”
Real Madrid have won the tournament five times in the last nine years but are not the only team to have concerns, although any issues have repeatedly been rejected by Fifa.
The last Club World Cup took place in December 2023, and featured just seven teams, with Manchester City disrupting their Premier League campaign to travel to Saudi Arabia and win the tournament, beating Fluminense in the final.
The new format will have 12 teams from Uefa, six from Conmebol and four each from Concaf, CAF, and the AFC, one from Oceania’s OFC and one from the host nation.
