Arsene Wenger highlights Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to dismiss Club World Cup expansion criticism

Arsene Wenger has cited Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel's Messi's long and successful careers as a defence for the newly expanded Club World Cup.

FIFA's competition, where the best club sides from each continent face each other, is set to expand to a total of 32 teams from 2025 with the tournament taking place every four years, as opposed to every year.

FIFPRO, a global union that represents more than 65,000 players, released a statement accusing FIFA of showing a “lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players”.

As part of the format, European clubs will fill 12 of the 32 spots at the tournament with four spots going to the four Champions League winners from each period.

The other eight European spots will be decided based on European club ranking from the same period, with the remaining 20 places being split across the regions CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa) and OFC (Oceania).

With advances in fitness and performance management, FIFA's chief of global development believes that any issues over player welfare are not a huge concern.

Wenger said: «I believe that the two main forces in our game are the nations and the clubs and there’s logic behind the thinking from clubs and FIFA to organise a Club World Cup that is similar in format to the nation’s World Cup.

»The positive impact that this will have on clubs is going to be huge, because it will increase resources for clubs all over the world to develop and to compete.

«In Europe we are lucky, but it’s important that we make football really global and this creates a chance for other clubs to progress, this is the real target.

»It will give more opportunities to more players all