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According to Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Club World Cup will establish itself as a bigger sporting event than the traditional World Cup, despite opposition.
Al-Khelaifi, who is also president of the European Club Association, is confident the new, expanded tournament, which will be held in the United States in 2025, will be one of the biggest in the world.
“The Club World Cup will be bigger than the World Cup itself, I promise you that,” he said at the Globe Soccer forum in Sardinia on Wednesday.
“The FIFA World Cup is a fantastic tournament. I’m very proud of the players who play for their national teams, but the Club World Cup will be an even bigger tournament, bringing together fans from 32 clubs around the world. I’m really looking forward to it.”
The tournament, which will feature teams such as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, will take place from June 15 to July 13, 2025 and is billed as a battle of the best across the United States.
However, there are criticisms that the move will put additional strain on players in an already packed football schedule.
“The calendar can sometimes seem like a distant conversation,” PFA chief executive Maheta Molango said here in Sardinia.
“If you look at the schedule for next summer, the UEFA Champions League final is on May 31, the Nations League from June 4 to June 10, then we go to the United States from June 14 to July 13, then the Africa Cup of Nations and then the league starts on August 17,” he explained.
“I don’t know how to do that.”
He continued: “The difference between the national team World Cup and the club World Cup is… the national team is made up of a few players who come back and manage it. In the Club World Cup, everyone plays.”
“So everyone [Man] City will probably be busy until July 30th and will be playing in the Premier League in less than a month.”
City Football Group CEO Ferran Soriano described the heavy schedule as a “crisis” and said younger players were being overworked compared to their heroes of the past.
For example, it has been noted that Kylian Mbappe has played 37 percent more minutes than Thierry Henry at the same age, while his soon-to-be Real Madrid team-mate Vinicius Junior has played 12,000 more minutes than Ronaldinho at the same age.
“Like everything in life, it’s about priorities,” Soriano said. “You have to decide what’s most important, starting with the health of your players.”
“We’re caught in a vicious cycle where everyone is trying to protect their own business, and we can’t continue like this.”
“You have to care about the players first, but then you have to care about the fans. I say this because it’s important. What do the fans want to see? They are the driving force behind this business.”
“Do they want a Champions League, a Club World Cup or an improved Nations League? We need a system that serves the fans without sacrificing the players and at the moment we are a long way from that.”