FIFA dismisses rumors about the Club World Cup: This Saturday there will be key announcements

FIFA will hit the table this Saturday with the aim of dispelling any doubts about the holding of the 2025 Club World Cup. The highest football entity will organize a great event in New York's Central Park to announce the official venues of the tournament that It will be held from June 15 to July 13 of next year in the United States. Although criticism of the tournament is growing, FIFA has no intention of backing down from its new great project.

In that sense, Gianni Infantino himself, president of FIFA, will lead an event that is expected to be attended by around 60,000 people. The gala will take place from 5:50 p.m. local (11:50 p.m. CEST) and will feature several special guests, including the executive director and founder of the Global Citizen organization, the Australian Hugh Evans, one of the main sponsors of the tournament.

FIFA 'passes' the criticism of the new Club World Cup

FIFA could also confirm the date and venue of the draw, scheduled for December of this year, in addition to other news related to television rights, one of the 'soap operas' that casts doubt on the holding of the new World Cup, along with the threat of a general strike of footballers. In principle, FIFA hopes to hold this competition every four years, taking the place on the international calendar of the defunct Confederations Cup, which was last played in 2017.

Since 2005, the Confederations was used as a kind of pilot test for the World Cup, since its headquarters coincided with that of the World Cup to be held a year later. However, specialized voices in the world of football consider it a mistake to include a tournament of such dimensions in the international calendar, since unlike the Confederations, where only 8 teams participated, here 32 clubs are involved for an entire month with the sole purpose of testing the logistics of the 2026 World Cup, as well as selling more games. 

The new Club World Cup emulates the format used in the World Cup between 1998 and 2022, with 32 teams divided into 8 groups and a total of 63 matches including round of 16, quarterfinals, semis and final (only the duel for third place is omitted ). From 2005 to 2023, the then-called 'Mundialito' was held with a much more conservative format (only 7 clubs attended), alternating the months of December and February (due to the pandemic). This year, the place of the 'Mundialito' is taken by the Intercontinental Cup, with a very similar format.