The clubs competing in the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025 in the United States of America next year will discover their opponents in the group stage in less than a month, with the draw in Miami at 6:00 on Thursday 5 December 2024.
FIFA revealed the draw date for the group stage of its new and controversial FIFA 2025 Club World Cup on Monday, posting it on its social media channels.
The 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four, with the 16 clubs finishing in the top two places in each group qualifying for a knock-out stage. As with the FIFA Club World Cup, teams are then eliminated from the round of 16 to the final, but there will be no third-place match.
Taking place in the United States from June 15 to July 13 next year as a prelude to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 32-club FIFA Club World Cup 2025 has been criticized for adding more matches to a schedule of games already packed with the high demand of the players.
The competition has featured just seven teams for nearly 20 years, but the new expansion aims to emulate the FIFA World Cup with 32 of the world's best teams competing every four years. The Federation Internationale des Associations de Footballers Professionnels (FIFPRO), a global union of professional players, has publicly criticized the new format, as has the World Leagues Forum, which represents professional leagues.
Both organizations sent a letter to FIFA in October stressing the welfare of the players and asking for the tournament to be rescheduled. A response from FIFA said it rejected allegations of "too many" matches and said the schedule had been carefully considered to give players enough time to recover from their domestic league commitments.
Despite FIFA's claims, organizations, players and managers have also spoken out, including Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, who criticized the congested fixture schedule which leaves little time for players to recover, comparing it to the NBA which has a break of four months.
The major European leagues then filed a complaint for abuse of power in October and a few months ago, the Association of Professional Footballers (PFA) in England and the Union Nationale des Footballers Professionnels (UNPF) in France both filed complaints in proceedings legal before the Court. union in Brussels in June to protest against the tour. At the time of writing, revenues and profits for the clubs are still unknown, as are the designated television broadcasters of the competition. The only announcement was the announcement of Chinese electronics manufacturer Hisense as the first sponsor of the Club World Cup.
The start of the Club World Cup, which will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on June 15, gave FIFA President Gianni Infantino more impetus in his promotion of the renewed tournament, when Lionel Messi, eight times Ball d. "O winners, and Inter Miami qualified after winning the MLS Supporters' Shield in October. However, there are still significant reactions that could disrupt the future of the FIFA Club World Cup. The next edition is scheduled for 2029, but at the moment, the host country has not yet been announced.
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