Liverpool have been denied a place at the expanded 2025 Club World Cup, and a potential windfall of around £50m, after Fifa confirmed the criteria around qualification for the tournament.
Back in March, the governing body decided that no more than two teams per country would be guaranteed participation in the controversial 32-team event, which will be played in the US between 15 June and 13 July. Now they have confirmed that Manchester City and Chelsea will be the only Premier League sides certain of taking part. Should Arsenal win this season’s Champions League, an exception would be made and they would be England’s third representative in a 12-strong European contingent.
Each Champions League winner from the period between 2021 and 2024 will qualify, guaranteeing the 2023 title holders City and 2021 winners Chelsea their spots. The second criterion is a club’s place in the Uefa Champions League coefficient over the same four-year spell. Liverpool had held hopes of taking part after reaching the final in 2022 and the last eight a year previously, but the door to their participation has now been closed.
Had the defining factor been Uefa’s club coefficient ranking over that period, which is separate from the Champions League measure, fourth-placed Liverpool would have qualified along with the leaders City as England’s two attendees. Manchester United, 10th in the rolling coefficient ranking and three spots below Chelsea, have seen any faint hope of involvement scuppered.
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Internazionale, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Benfica are the other European clubs certain to compete in 18 months’ time, with the remaining four spots still up for grabs. The tournament, whose expansion drew heavy criticism in Europe when it was dramatically announced last December, will be contested between eight groups of four and its finalists will be required to play seven games. Venues are yet to be confirmed.
There is particular concern around the implications for fixture congestion and player welfare. On Sunday evening the global players’ union, Fifpro, responded to the confirmation of its scheduling with a stinging rebuke of Fifa.
It said that, unless further safeguards are implemented, the month-long summer event “demonstrates a lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players, as well as a disregard for their personal and family lives.” Fifpro accused Fifa of excluding them, and by extension the players, from discussions around mounting workloads and wellbeing.
The methodology, which results from seven years of discussions, was ratified at a meeting of the Fifa Council at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jeddah. The Saudi Arabian city is hosting a more modest seven-team iteration of the Club World Cup, effectively the last of its kind. Manchester City, who made the six-hour flight after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace and trained locally on Sunday evening, will face the Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds at King Abdullah Sports City in the semi-finals on Tuesday as they aim to become world champions for the first time.
The tournament began last Tuesday; its standout result so far saw the highly fancied Jeddah-based side Al-Ittihad, containing N’Golo Kanté, Fabinho and Karim Benzema, lose 3-1 to the Egyptian club Al-Ahly in the quarter-finals.
