For Liverpool, it's probably a good thing they haven't qualified for the Club World Cup in the USA in 2025. The tournament as we've known it since Liverpool went top in Qatar in 2019 is now fully fleshed out. It has been renovated – and not least expanded.
Next year, 32 teams from around the world, including Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, will participate in the Club World Cup. In the past, Europe only fielded the team that had won the Champions League the previous season. Instead of an annual tournament, it will now be held every four years, and among other things, it is the performances in the Champions League that form the basis on which twelve teams from Europe will be included. Liverpool will not be joining no matter how things go next year.
Now there will be more teams and more matches for players who are in top clubs. In addition, the Club World Cup is being moved to the post-season in most parts of Europe. As a result, many players have to go out in the tournament during a period when they would normally have a holiday.
A number of senior players strongly object to the new FIFA tournament, according to… telegraph Players' organization Fifpro are threatening to go to court to stop what they believe is madness.
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– Since all attempts at dialogue have failed, it is up to us, and our mission now is to ensure the protection of players’ rights. David Terrier, president of the Players International, says it is not about stigmatizing the tournament, but instead drawing attention to a big problem.
They believe that FIFA should not be allowed to hold a new tournament when footballers already have to play so many matches during a season. For example, according to the Football Database, Virgil van Dijk is approaching 5,000 minutes for club and national team this season – more than 50 full appearances on the pitch at the age of 32. During the European Championship, the number will increase significantly, and he will be able to set a new record in his career in terms of the number of minutes played.
As a Liverpool player, he will miss next year's new Club World Cup, but will likely support those hoping the tournament does not go ahead. The Telegraph wrote about a poll in which half of the players responded that they were forced to play matches despite being injured. Eight out of ten coaches admit they have used players who were not supposed to play due to the risk of injury.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino believes they are not the problem when it comes to the football calendar, and would perhaps prefer to point the finger at UEFA, which is expanding the Champions League in the autumn.
So far, 29 of the 32 teams have been confirmed to participate in next year's Club World Cup. Pep Lijnders said the tournament was a major reason he took over as manager of RB Salzburg when he resigned as Liverpool coach after the season.
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