FIFA says the new, expanded Club World Cup is an effort to make football truly global while protecting players' well-being.
by sportswriters Xiao Shiyao, Shan Lei
BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- FIFA on Sunday announced the schedule and detailed information of the revised 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, whose first edition will take place in the United States in 2025.
World football's governing body told Xinhua that the new Club World Cup format was an effort to make football truly global while protecting the well-being of the players.
MAKING FOOTBALL GLOBAL
The Club World Cup has been held annually in a seven-team format since 2005, with six continental champions of the year and a representative of the host nation.
However, from 2025, The tournament will take place only once every four years, with 12 clubs from Europe, six from South America, four representatives each from Asia, Africa and North and Central America, as well as one host nation club.
"The tournament will provide a relevant platform for clubs from all continents, giving them the opportunity to compete on the world stage, thus taking club football to the next level," read a FIFA statement provided to Xinhua. "This is also in line with FIFA's objective of making football truly global."
FIFA also emphasized that the tournament would "provide greater opportunities for Asian clubs to have a bigger presence and offer more opportunities for fans and players to experience top level club competition."
Former manager Arsene Wenger, who serves as FIFA's chief of global football development, said the logic of reformatting the Club World Cup is the same as organizing the FIFA World Cup for nations. "The two main forces in our game are the nations and the clubs. 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," Wenger added.
"The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be the pinnacle of elite professional men's club football," noted FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
IN CONSIDERATION OF PLAYERS' WELL-BEING
With one more major international competition added into the busy match calendar, there are worries that the expanded Club World Cup will affect players' well-being and cause more injuries, accusations which FIFA have refuted.
"The enlarged FIFA Club World Cup fits into FIFA's key objective to have meaningful football matches while protecting the well-being of the players and recognizing that many regions need more competitive football," read the statement.
"The tournament was part of a comprehensive consultation process on the Men's International Match Calendar (2025-2030) with the participation of key football stakeholders," FIFA noted.
"When it comes to welfare, it's worth stressing that the FIFA Club World Cup replaces the FIFA Confederations Cup which was last played in 2017. FIFA has not simply 'added' a new competition but also scrapped one."
"Player welfare is a top priority for FIFA and there will be a minimum of three days rest between matches [in the Club World Cup]," the statement added.
Wenger added: "This is a competition that is going to take place every four years and of course the rest period during the competition and afterward has to be respected. There is demand for big competitions in football, and there has been a good support for this one."
In addition, Wenger explained that players' welfare has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. "When you look at injury prevention, recovery work, nutrition and advances in medical technology, it is unrecognisable from what it used to be. VAR has also helped with the protection of players, as players know they cannot escape from making bad tackles that cause injury. So overall there have been huge improvements on the welfare side, and we want to continue that progress." ■