New FIFA Club World Cup format to begin in 2025
FIFA announced on Sunday that the Club World Cup, which will be held for the first time in 2025, will feature 32 teams and will take place from mid-June to mid-July.
The following are the specifics of how the tournament will operate:
- The United States will host the expanded event in 2025, and it will be held every four years after that.
- The tournament will be divided into eight groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the knockout stages, the same format as the World Cup.
- The current FIFA Club World Cup, an annual competition with seven teams, will be phased out following the tournament now being hosted by Saudi Arabia.
- The new competition will feature 12 teams from Europe, six from South America, and four from Africa, Asia, and North America. Oceania will receive one slot, with the final slot going to a club from the host country.
CLUB RANKING AND QUALIFICATION
- To qualify for the Club World Cup, clubs will be ranked based on sporting criteria over four seasons.
- Teams will receive three points for a victory, one point for a tie, and three points for advancing to each stage of their confederation's premier competition.
- In Europe, the UEFA club coefficients system will be used, with teams receiving two points for a win, one point for a draw, four points for qualifying for the group stage, five points for qualifying for the last 16, and one point for progressing to each subsequent stage of the competition.
- Confederation champions from 2021-2024 will be eligible to compete in the new Club World Cup, which means Chelsea, Real Madrid, and last season's Champions League champion Manchester City have qualified from Europe.
- Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, FC Porto, and Benfica are the other European teams that qualified via the points system.
- Unless a country wins the continental competition, only two teams from that country can qualify for the tournament. Because Chelsea and City have already qualified from England, Arsenal can only qualify if they win the Champions League this season.
- From South America, Copa Libertadores champions Palmeiras, Flamengo, and Fluminense have qualified, while Asian sides Al Hilal and Urawa Red Diamonds have also qualified.
- Al Ahly and Wydad qualified from Africa, while Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, and Club Leon qualified from North America.
- Oceania's Auckland City have secured their place in the competition, with no other team in the running to catch them.
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