In the Pursuit of Money, FIFA Launches a New Competition

The race for money in football's governing bodies leads to a flurry of changes in the format of classic competitions and the emergence of new ones. In the name of "attractiveness," everything is transforming. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has announced the organization of a new Club World Cup in June 2025, with the participation of several European clubs, including Manchester City, Real Madrid, or Paris Saint-Germain. The competition will take place in the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025, one year before the World Cup organized in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. It will bring together 32 club teams distributed into eight groups. The group stage will be followed by a knockout stage starting with the round of 16. The competition will feature clubs from each of the six international confederations: CAF (Africa) will have four teams, as well as AFC (Asia) and CONCACAF (North, Central America, and the Caribbean), UEFA (Europe) with 12 spots, CONMEBOL (South America) with six, and OFC (Oceania) with one team. For Europe, four spots are assigned to the winners of the Champions League in 2021 (Chelsea), 2022 (Real Madrid), 2023 (Manchester City), and 2024. Eight teams have secured their participation through the UEFA ranking, including PSG, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, FC Porto, or Benfica. It is "absolutely fantastic news; PSG is already qualified for the world's biggest and most important club tournament," commented a source close to the French club, adding that it will guarantee "new significant gains" for PSG. Additionally, FIFA has announced a new global club competition, known as the Intercontinental Cup. The competition will have a structure similar to the current format of the Club World Cup and will bring together champions from continental confederations. The European champion will enter directly into the final.