New FIFA Club World Cup will be in 2025, with Palmeiras and Flamengo
The competition will now take place every four years, with 32 teams in total.
Brazil Agency - The recent achievements of Palmeiras and Flamengo in the Copa Libertadores have yielded new results. The two Brazilian teams have been confirmed by FIFA as participants in the first edition of the new Club World Cup, which will be played from 2025 onwards, bringing together 32 teams every four years. Among them will be the continental champions from 2021 to 2024, who will have a guaranteed place in the competition. The news was announced this Tuesday (14), by the FIFA Council - the highest instance of the governing body of football - which met in the morning in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
In addition to Palmeiras, the 2021 Libertadores champion, and Flamengo, the Rio de Janeiro-based team that won the title last year, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) will have four other spots. Two of them are reserved for the next two Libertadores champions. The criteria for selecting the other two South American representatives are not yet defined. The most likely scenario is that the club ranking will be used, considering the period from 2021 to 2024. However, based on the ranking, no other Brazilian team will be eligible to compete in the Club World Cup. The Club World Cup regulations do not allow the participation of two teams from the same country, unless they are the champions.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will fill four spots with the winners of the Champions League - two of them are held by Chelsea (2021) and Real Madrid (2022) - and another eight teams will enter through the continental ranking.
This year's edition will be the last one with 7 teams.
The 2023 Club World Cup, scheduled to take place from December 12 to 22 in Saudi Arabia, will be the last with seven participating teams, with the winners of the Champions League (UEFA) and the Copa Libertadores (CONMEBOL) entering directly into the semi-finals of the competition.
The 2024 edition of the World Cup will be in a different format. FIFA plans to maintain the tournament annually, but only with the continental champions, without including a team representing the host country. According to the organization, the annual World Cup would stimulate competitiveness among the confederations. Details about the schedule and format will be released later by FIFA.
Next Thursday (16), also in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, the FIFA Congress will begin. The expectation is that the current president of the entity, Gianni Infantino, will be reelected for his third term.