FIFA's Gonna FIFA

You know, you've really got to give FIFA credit.  When they get an idea in their heads, they forge ahead.  No matter how many people tell them it's a bad idea, they simply laugh in the face of that criticism and forge ahead anyway.  I think it empowers them, actually.  "Yeah, well take your criticism and shove it.  We'll show you!"

The latest example of FIFA going ahead with an idea that only they seem to think is good is the long-rumored expansion of the Club World Cup, which will become a reality in 2025.  What's currently an 11-day, seven-team event will increase to a month-long, 32-team tournament held every four years in the year before the World Cup.  The 2025 edition will be held in the United States as the World Cup test event, which is presumably what it'll be moving forward, with the same country hosting the Club World Cup and regular World Cup back-to-back.

They also outlined how qualifying and the allotment of spots will work.  Not surprisingly, a majority of the berths (12) will go to UEFA, with the four Champions League winners during that span getting automatic berths.  The rest will be awarded based on a formula that takes a team's Champions League results over that four-year period into account.  The only caveat is that no more than two teams from the same country can qualify unless they're all continental champions (since Chelsea and Manchester City have won two of the last three Champions Legue titles, the only way England gets a third team is if Arsenal wins the currently ongoing edition).

CONMEBOL will get six berths--each of the four Copa Libertadores winners and two teams based on their four-year ranking.  (There will be three Brazilian teams since they're all Copa Libertadores champions.)  Africa, Asia and CONCAFAF will get four each (for the Champions League winner each season), while Oceania has one spot reserved for the best OFC Champions League winner over the four-year period.  The host country is also guaranteed one place, so there will be a second MLS team to join the Seattle Sounders (the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League winners).

If the 32-team format sounds familiar, it should.  The Club World Cup will have the exact same setup that was used at the men's World Cup from 1998-2022 and at this year's Women's World Cup.  Eight groups of four, with the top two advancing to the knockout stage.  The two finalists will end up playing seven matches over the course of the tournament.

It isn't the format that's creating the controversy, though.  It's the insertion of a month-long summer tournament into an already crammed calendar.  The 2025 UEFA Champions League Final is scheduled for May 31 in Munich.  The 2025 Club World Cup runs from June 15-July 13.  Then, assuming the European leagues start at the usual time (which they need to for the 2026 World Cup), they'll begin the new season in mid-August.

And that's just regular season club competition.  It doesn't take any National Team duty into account.  Or Champions/Europa League.  Or their national cup.  Including all competitions, players could easily end up playing close to 60 games in a season.  That's not even the worst part, though.  It would put some players in a situation where they're playing year-round with only a handful of three-week breaks.  That's not exactly enough time for proper rest and recovery!

Remember when the NBA only took about six weeks off between the end of the 2020 Finals in the COVID bubble and the start of the next season only to have the 2021 NBA Finals finish just days before the Olympics (Devin Booker literally went from the NBA Finals directly to Tokyo for the Olympics) then another short offseason so that they could get the schedule back to normal in 2021-22?  It was two years straight of nonstop basketball before the players finally got a break last summer.  The expanded Club World Cup could make it three years without a summer off for elite soccer players (2024 Euro/Copa America, 2025 Club World Cup, 2026 World Cup).

This is assuming the players actually participate in each event.  Although, it's not like they'll have the chance to opt out of any of them.  Their club team is their employer who actually pays their salary, so you know there's no way they aren't playing in the Club World Cup.  You also know there's no way they aren't playing for their National Team at the two biggest events on the global soccer calendar. 

I'm also not exactly sure how this would work with transfer windows and other roster changes.  Will guys be playing their first games for a new team in the Club World Cup?  And what about those who are leaving the club?  Will they play their final games with their old team in the tournament, potentially against their new club?  Or, if their new club didn't qualify, will they really want them to arrive late for preseason training so that they can help their old team in another competition?  Or, the worst possible scenario of all, a player leaving mid-tournament because his contract expired.

How much of a disadvantage will this put teams in compared to their rivals who don't have their best players playing all these extra games and traveling all these extra miles?  It would be crazy to think it wouldn't make a difference, especially for players who go deep into the tournaments.  How could it not?  Frankly, I think some teams would be better off NOT qualifying for the Club World Cup or making a deep run in the Champions League.

But wait, there's more!  Even though the Club World Cup is going from an annual to a quadrennial event, they'll still have the year-end competition between the continental champions from each of the six confederations.  The new FIFA Intercontinental Cup will replace it starting in 2024 and likely be played every December (during the domestic league break).  That's a short event and the European team will automatically be in the final, but it's still competitive games during one of the few breaks that players get during the season.

So, why is FIFA doing this?  That answer should be obvious.  Why does FIFA do anything?  Money.  They think there's money to be made from an expanded Club World Cup.  Plenty of it.  They know that supporters will travel.  Which means they'll have no problem selling tickets.  Just like they'll have no problem selling the broadcast rights for a new tournament that they're sure will generate plenty of interest.  And, of course, will garner plenty of sponsorship dollars, too.

Which is why FIFA doesn't care.  The players don't like it.  The fans don't like it.  The media doesn't like it.  The federations don't like it.  The different national leagues really don't like it.  None of that matters to FIFA, though.  So, like it or not, we're getting a 32-team Club World Cup in 2025.  As unnecessary and unwanted as it is on an already overloaded calendar, it's happening.