New Club WC format in 2025 with 32 team’s: FIFA

International Association Football Federation (FIFA) president Gianni Infantino on Friday announced the introduction of a new 32-team men’s Club World Cup to launch in June 2025. As per ESPN, Infantino stated during his final press conference at the World Cup in Qatar that the FIFA Council had resolved to replace the 24-team competition that was initially scheduled for 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic during a meeting earlier in the day.Seven teams compete in the Club World Cup, the most recent edition of which saw Chelsea defeat Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi in February. “The first edition will take place in 2025 in the summer,” Infantino said. “During that slot where in the past we used to have the Confederations Cup and it will be slightly longer because obviously there are 32 teams.”But they will be the best teams in the world. They will be invited to participate. All of the details will be developed in due course, and we’ll decide where it will take place as well over the next few weeks or months in consultation with all of the stakeholders. “Of course, the details of that still need to be discussed and agreed, but the 32-team tournament will go ahead, making it really like a World Cup”FIFA Council has taken the decision now as a matter of principle to hold that Club World Cup. But don’t forget we were the only football organisation in the world, I think anyway, at the international level and not to have organised the competition during the pandemic. “Everyone else postponed their competitions, then shorten them and played them and we had a Club World Cup planned in 2020 with 24 teams. That was cancelled. It wasn’t replaced or postponed.”We did that because we wanted to allow for the Copa America, the Euros and we wanted to protect the health and wellbeing of players and not overburden the calendar. The 2023 Club World Cup will be held in Morocco, according to Infantino, who also announced plans for a new Women’s Club World Cup and the beginning of a FIFA World Series that will enable elite nations to participate more frequently.