FIFA discussing possibility of a 48-team Club World Cup following lobbying from Europe over more participation.
FIFA discussing the prospect of increasing the participants of the Club World Cup from 32 to 48.
The 32-team tournament begins in the United States on Saturday, and the champions will collect up to $125.8 million (£93.2 million) in prize money and participation fees for participating in seven games. Clubs that missed out are worried because that is roughly £25 million less than Paris Saint-Germain received from Uefa for their 17-game Champions League-winning campaign.
Expansion is the only method to guarantee additional European opponents until FIFA lowers its restriction of 12 European entries. Big clubs with sizable fan bases that have not qualified include Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Milan.
Expanding the Club World Cup would be in line with FIFA’s new tournament paradigm, since 48 teams will compete in the 2031 Women’s World Cup and the men’s World Cup next year. According to FIFA insiders, after this summer’s competition, negotiations with all parties involved regarding the structure and format of the Club World Cup will take place, even though substantive talks about expansion have not yet occurred.
Increasing the limit to two clubs from a single nation is another potential change being promoted by Premier League clubs. Liverpool was excluded despite fulfilling one of the qualifying requirements, which was to have one of the top eight Champions League records of teams that did not win the competition between 2021 and 2024.
Brazil now has four clubs from four consecutive Copa Libertadores victories because FIFA lifted the two-per-country cap for clubs that won their continental championship during that time.
After Los Angeles defeated Club América of Mexico in a playoff match that was sparked by Club León’s dismissal for violating multi-club ownership regulations, three clubs from the United States are participating.
European clubs, whose global appeal and commercial prowess are not represented in this year’s entry list, would especially welcome the Club World Cup’s expansion. Fifa, which at first had trouble securing commercial partnerships for the competition, would also benefit from a larger tournament that included more of the larger European clubs.