You may have seen the news about FIFA expanding their Club World Cup, the first edition of which will take place in the summer of 2025.
Thirty-two teams will take part, up from the current field of seven, and it will take place in one country, much like the national-team World Cup. Eight groups of four will feed into a knockout bracket of 16 teams, meaning that the finalists of this new competition will play seven games, in tournament conditions — probably in a place far from home.
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In isolation, this new-look tournament might actually turn out to be quite good fun. The concept of stuff like this is often scoffed at when announced, but when they happen they are usually pretty enjoyable: take the Europa Conference League, or the multi-country European Championship two summers ago.
But lots of things are fun in isolation. Scarfing down a whole pizza at 1am is fun in isolation. Then the next morning you’re crippled with stomach pain, self-loathing and existential despair, your belly and soul reminding you why it probably wasn’t a good idea after all.
In this case, the whole pizza is games. So, so many games. Too many games, actually.
It’s bad enough as it is, but from the 2024-25 season, the fixture lists will be a bit longer for the 12 European teams competing in the Club World Cup and quite a bit more disrupted for basically everyone else, and it’s going to get worse.
Of those 12 European teams in the 2025 Club World Cup, four places will be allocated to the winners of the Champions League between 2021 and 2024, which means that Chelsea and Manchester City are already in. You can think of this as either prestigious and a huge honour, or an unwanted and weighty addition to their workload.
GO DEEPER
What a 32-team Club
Read on theathletic.com