Julius OkorieVenues for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States will be made known September 28, 2024 (today), the World soccer ruling body has revealed.
The new, expanded 32-club tournament, featuring leading clubs from around the world, will take place from 15th June to 13th July 2025.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelGianni Infantino, President of FIFA, will make the announcement in Central Park during the Global Citizen Festival, a music event aimed at defeating poverty.
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are among the 12 European teams who have qualified for the tournament while Argentina’s River Plate and Boca Juniors and Brazil’s Flamengo are among six South American teams.
FIFA has yet to announce any broadcast partners for the tournament which has faced opposition from the global players’ union FIFPro.
FIFpro and the European Leagues body filed a joint complaint to the European Commission against FIFA over the introduction of the tournament into the international match calendar.
Opponents of the new tournament have said it adds further congestion to an already crowded schedule and increases the workload of players.
The tournament will take place during the same window as the regional national team CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament which will be held mainly on the West Coast.
The Club World Cup games are expected to be held mainly at East Coast venues although US club Seattle Sounders may be given a game at their home venue. The USA will also co-host the 2026 regular World Cup with Mexico and Canada.
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There had been initial reports suggesting that Real Madrid will opt out of the Club World Cup citing congested football schedule and the poor payment attached to it. But Coach of the team Carlo Ancelotti debunked the submission.
Real Madrid issued a statement on Monday underlining their intention to participate in the Club World Cup next summer after Carlo Ancelotti had suggested the club would refuse to play in the tournament.
Ancelotti told an Italian newspaper that Madrid, and other clubs, would not take part because the financial incentives were not big enough.
The head coach later tweeted that his words had “not been interpreted in the way I expected”, minutes after Madrid said they would be going to a tournament due to be held in the US next June and July.
“Real Madrid announces that at no time has its participation in the new Club World Cup to be organised by FIFA in the upcoming 2024-2025 season been questioned,” a tweet said.
“Therefore, our club will compete, as planned, in this official competition that we face with pride and with the utmost enthusiasm to make our millions of fans around the world dream again with a new title.”
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
