FIFA have confirmed details of a new Club World Cup set to feature 32 teams, including Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid.
It will take place between June 15th and July 13th 2025, with the United States hosting the inaugural tournament. Taking place every four years, clubs will be drawn from all six confederations, with Europe supplying 12 teams and the host country providing an additional one.
Sides will qualify via their continent’s premier club competition, such as the Champions League, in the preceding four seasons. With the competition winners automatically qualifying, a ‘ranking methodology’ will afford the remaining clubs points based on results and progress.
As European champions for the last three seasons, Chelsea, City and Real have each qualified already. Five other European teams have also booked a spot through the ranking system: Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto and Benfica. Unless each side has won the Champions League, FIFA will prevent countries from having more than two teams qualify – meaning of the English outfits only Arsenal could join their top-flight team-mates in the States.
In the competition itself, eight groups of four teams will compete in group stages before the top two progress into a round of 16, and so on until the final. There will be no third-place play-off.
There will be at least three days’ rest between club’s fixtures, but concerns abound about welfare, with the additional tournament significantly extending the domestic season and potentially forcing some players into campaigns of 80 games or more.
According to Sky News, the global players’ union FIFPRO has told FIFA that players need a mandatory 28-day off-season break. This would pose a problem to the Premier League: starting the season just 28 days after the final would prevent pre-season training, and the
Community Shield takes place a week before the opening weekend. The 2026 World Cup also means players must be released by their clubs to national teams on 25th May.
The announcement was made by the FIFA Council ahead of the Club World Cup semi-finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
FIFA is also planning a Club World Cup for women's teams.
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