FIFA Announce Major Changes To Its Competition, Could Prevent The Sale Of EPL Side

Written By Onyeka Daniel

With the FIFA World Cup currently going on in Qatar set to come to an end on Sunday when Argentina takes on France, the world football governing body isn’t wasting time with regards to the next tournament.

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FIFA have announced major changes to its next tournament which is the FIFA World Club Cup and the surprise team of this year’s World Cup, Morocco will be hosting the tournament.

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With annual FIFA revenues set to balloon from $7.5bn (£6.15bn) to $11bn (£9bn) over the next four-year cycle leading up to the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA, these changes are expected to bring in more revenue.

According to FIFA, Morocco will host the next Club World Cup in February, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on Friday while the planned expanded version of the competition is now set to start in 2025.

The tournament will take place from 1 to 11 February, 2023, Infantino told reporters at a press conference in Doha, as it returns to Morocco for the third time. FIFA president has always been pushing to expand the tournament.

The 24-team event, featuring eight teams from Europe, had been due to take place in China in 2021 only to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Infantino said the new-look tournament would now go ahead starting in 2025 and would feature 32 teams.

“We had agreed a few years ago to have a new 24-team men’s Club World Cup. It should have taken place in 2021 but was postponed because of Covid,” the FIFA president said. The new competition will take place in 2025 and will feature 32 teams, making it really like a World Cup,” he added, without offering further details.

Morocco aren’t new to hosting the World Club Cup as they hosted it in 2013 and again in 2014, while the most recent edition was held in the United Arab Emirates in February, which saw English Premier League side, Chelsea lift the trophy.

Flamengo from Brazil, Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia, Wydad Casablanca from Morocco, Seattle Sounders from the United States and New Zealand’s Auckland City will join European champions, Real Madrid to fight for the trophy.

Meanwhile…

It may or may not be related to the ongoing row between FIFA and UEFA against the European Super League with the rulings seeming to be in favor of the two governing bodies, but with this proposed expansion, the owners of English Premier League side, Liverpool may not be going through with their proposed sale of the club.

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FSG, the parent company that owns the Liverpool have been pushing for a more global exposure, proposing that the Premier League handover the cash to the English Football League in return for the end of competitions such as the League Cup and Community Shield to enable the big clubs to host more exhibition games abroad.

It ended in failure, much to the dismay of the Liverpool principal owner and other big six clubs. With the chance to take the club and the brand to a global level with greater media and commercial rights attached to it would help boost revenues, the owners may reconsider their plans and keep the club rather than sell as they earlier planned.

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