It’s FIFA’s shiny new toy and the brainchild of the body’s president, Gianni Infantino.

Yet the inaugural, expanded, 32-team Club World Cup, which will take place in the United States next summer, will kick off without a number of football’s European heavyweight sides and the participation of many of the game’s stars is far from guaranteed.

Barcelona’s 4-1 home defeat by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, condemning them to a 6-4 aggregate exit from the Champions League quarter-finals, means they join a list of definite absentees that already includes Manchester United, Liverpool and AC Milan.



Because Atletico’s co-efficient ranking is higher than Barcelona’s, they become the 22nd club to qualify.

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Liverpool, United, Milan and Barcelona won’t be at the 2025 Club World Cup party between June 15 and July 13 next year, and neither will a by-then 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr, while whether Lionel Messi, who would turn 38 during the tournament, and his MLS side Inter Miami get on the guest list remains to be seen.

Ronaldo, who turns 40 next year, remains a big draw for many fans around the world (Waleed Zein/Anadolu via Getty Images)

So with some of the world’s most decorated clubs and plenty of individual footballers with the greatest commercial pull failing to book their places, what does this mean for the new competition?

“The Premier League is one of the few leagues that’s still able to command significant value and that’s been extended to the success of the Champions League,” said Paolo Pescatore, founder and technology, media and telecommunications analyst at PP Foresight.

It’s not got off to a great start if you don’t have some of the leading clubs.”

‘It’s not helped by missing three of the four biggest names in club football’

Infantino has been eager to move FIFA, world football’s governing body, into the men’s club game, no doubt with an envious eye on the money made by its European equivalent UEFA via its three annual club competitions — the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.

It’s then not helped by the fact you’re missing three of the four biggest names in club football.

“With the best will in the world, Manchester City and Chelsea aren’t Manchester United and Liverpool when it comes to global prominence, and Barcelona are also a massive miss.

last July (Al Bello/Getty Images)

The timing of the event is also a factor, given it is moving to the traditional “summer tournament” space, as opposed to happening in the Club World Cup’s former position in December or January — midway through European football seasons — and is happening in the States while the domestic top flight, Major League Soccer, is underway with its February to December seasons.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, and other Premier League sides, are also already set to play pre-season matches in the U.S.

These will qualify either as winners of their confederation’s premier club competition between 2021 and 2024 or through its club rankings during that same period.

Teams from these regions to have already booked their places are Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense (all Brazil), Al Ahly (Egypt), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), Monterrey, Club Leon (both Mexico), Seattle Sounders (United States) and Auckland City (New Zealand).

At the tournament, teams play in eight groups of four, so three games each as at the World Cup and European Championship, before a single-leg knockout phase to decide who gets to call themselves world champions.

It is worth noting the current, seven-team format of the Club World Cup will still take place annually under a different name — The Intercontinental Cup.

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 (Top photo: Adria Puig/Anadolu via Getty Images)


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