The new FIFA Club World Cup It does not convince the players and coaches, who when they have had the opportunity have been against a competition that will add to a calendar in which the footballers will have no respite. The national leagues, Cups and the new Champions format are joined by the Club World Cup, which It will be held in the United States between June 15 and July 13, 2025. The dates make sense organizationally, since it is practically the only month in which no competition is played, but this clashes with the interests of coaches and players, who will only have one free summer in the four-year cycle (European Championship, Club World Cup , World Cup and summer without competition).
The latest controversy over the Club World Cup has had as its protagonists Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid. The Italian coach, in an interview granted to Il Giornale, He referred negatively to the new competition. “FIFA can forget about that. Footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament. ORA single Madrid match is worth 20 million and FIFA wants to give us that figure for the entire tournament: negative. Like us, several clubs will reject the invitation,” he stated forcefully. Shortly after, and almost simultaneously with Real Madrid’s statement, Ancelotti retracted his words: “My words about the FIFA Club World Cup have not been interpreted in the way I intended. Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s words set off alarm bells, because the non-presence of the white team would be devastating for the future of the competition. The current European champion rectified his coach’s statements through the following statement: “Real Madrid CF communicates that at no time has its participation in the new Club World Cup to be organized by FIFA in the next 2024/2025 season been questioned. Therefore, Our club will compete, as planned, in this official competition that we face with pride and with the utmost enthusiasm. to make our millions of fans around the world dream again with a new title.” Despite this, Real Madrid will fight with FIFA for an agreement with better conditions.
Despite the controversy that the creation of this new competition is creating, no club has stood firmly before FIFA, so everything seems to indicate that it will end up being played. Each of the 32 participating clubs will take home a minimum of €50M, which will vary depending on what each institution generates.
The problems at the start of the Champions League
International competitions have never been free of problems in their origins and the Champions League, which will change format in the 2024-25 season, is an example of this. The maximum club competition was designed by the French newspaper L’Equipe under the name of European Champion Clubs Cup. This first concept was rejected by UEFA, but after conversations with FIFA and some clubs, the institution gave its approval and organized the competition.
Led by Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran, director and flagship journalist of the French newspaper, it was Santiago Bernabéu, president of Real Madrid. Bernabéu was the one who most supported the idea, as he envisioned a competition with room for growth and the capacity to make Real Madrid great. He wasn’t wrong. In the first edition, 18 teams participated (one for each invited territory), but there were notable absences due to the lack of consolidation of the tournament and the indifference on the part of FIFA.
The most surprising was that of an English team, since everyone was expecting a representative from the country where football was born. He Chelseacurrent champion of England, should have gone, but The Football Association asked the club not to participate for various reasons, and they were replaced by the Polish representative. But the conflict between this new competition and the English teams came from further back. In 1954, the English press announced that the Wolwerhampton was the best team in the worlda statement to which Gabriel Hanot, a journalist from L’Equipe, as follows: “Before saying that Wolverhampton is invincible, they would have to travel to Moscow and Budapest. In addition, there are other great teams in Europe such as AC Milan or Real Madrid. Since the good level of the teams is being observed, A world championship should be held, or at least one at the European level with more prestige than the Mitropa Cup. It is something necessary…”
As the years passed, the quarrels between different countries and UEFA were resolved and the Champions League was born in 1991. The image of the competition was renewed and a previous group stage began to be played. Although all the clubs want to play in the Champions League, a part of them they do not feel comfortable with the distribution of income by UEFAwhich is why the project of the Super League. In 2021, the first project was presented, which included 12 clubs: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Barça. The concept was reformulated in December 2023, by which time 10 of the 12 entities had abandoned the project and only Real Madrid and Barça remained.
The disputes between institutions and clubs in the creation of new competitions or modifications to them have been going on for a long time, and it does not seem like it will stop. He new Club World Cup is another chapter in this conflictwhich has been joined by footballers and coaches, who see the current calendar as abusive.
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