Premier League to get extra FIFA Club World Cup spot after rule change and Liverpool omission
FIFA want to make a change after the first edition of their summer Club World Cup and the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal could be impacted by the move
Premier League sides could soon have a better chance of qualifying for the Club World Cup. The English top-flight had representatives in Chelsea and Manchester City in the summer, but no other team was permitted to participate.
The Blues became the inaugural winners of the competition's new format, and like City, qualified for the US tournament thanks to winning the Champions League during the preceding four years. The Premier League was only allowed two sides in the competition, meaning its spots were filled, but now the league is set to be allowed an additional team.
A total of 12 European clubs entered the global competition and qualified via Champions League success or UEFA’s club coefficient. Despite holding a strong score based on the latter, Liverpool could not enter.
The Times reports that UEFA would not oppose a move by FIFA to increase the cap from two clubs per country. Some FIFA chiefs were said to be frustrated a tournament crowning the best team in the world, lacked the league champions of England, Spain and Italy: Barcelona and Napoli missed out in addition to Liverpool.
The future of the showpiece event is expected to be raised at a FIFA Council meeting on Thursday. Victor Montagliani, Canada’s FIFA vice-president has admitted changes could be on the horizon.
Montagliani told Leaders sports business conference in London: “After the first one, like running any business, after your first month you ask do you have enough people? Do you have the right product?
“We need to discuss with stakeholders like the ECA in Europe, was the format the right format? Do we need to have more clubs or do we have a different variety of clubs in terms of how they qualify?”
FIFA could push to expand the Club World Cup to 48 teams with the European Club Association in favour. UEFA would be opposed to any such move however.
The European body would also be opposed to any bid to hold the tournament more frequently than every four years. A biennial offering has been suggested.
Jurgen Klopp has recently again spoken out against the competition. In an interview with The Athletic, Klopp said: “Did I read this morning that Chelsea have an injury crisis? Maybe they would have had injuries (anyway).
“My expertise is I know how much you can expect from football players. I know about intensity in training. We always ask for more. We go, go, go. I don’t doubt it was a great tournament. I didn’t watch it. Chelsea were super happy to win it. Great, a lot of money. But at one point we have to take care of the few people this game would not exist without: the players.
“There’s no solution besides stopping organising new tournaments in the summer break. There’s no break anymore for the best players in the world. You wouldn’t do this in any other part of life. Imagine you put the best artist out every night until they fall down and then we say sorry, he lost focus…”
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