FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on Friday that the next edition of the Club World Cup will take place in 2025 and will include 32 teams in 2025. The club competition has been rescheduled on multiple occasions in the past to accommodate international tournaments such as the Copa America and the Euros, the Italian added.
The number of teams in the Club World Cup will increase for the second consecutive FIFA competition. The FIFA World Cup, which will be held by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026, will now feature 48 teams instead of the previous 32.
The current format features seven teams who will compete over the course of ten days. In the quarterfinals, champions from North America, Asia, Oceania, and Africa will face one another Before the two winning teams advance to the summit match. The victors will then take on the European and South American champions in the semifinals of the Club World Cup, following which the tournament will progress in a regular fashion.
Seattle Sounders of the USA (North America), Real Madrid of Spain (Europe), Wydad of Morocco (Africa), and Auckland City of New Zealand (Oceania) are the teams who have confirmed their participation in the 2022 edition, which will be held in Morocco from February 1–11.
FIFA still needs to discuss, decide, and implement the specifics of the novel club competition. A women’s Club World Cup is also in the works, Infantino continued. FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup was also introduced by the governing body.
The U17 World Cups will also be altered to an annual format in addition to FIFA’s club competition. Infantino further stated that, barring the Club World Cup, FIFA anticipates earning USD 11 billion over the course of its four-year cycle between 2022 and 2026.
The 32-team format is expected to bolster FIFA’s revenues by a fair amount, as football aims to become more inclusive in the years to come.
