Liam Happe
The 2025 Club World Cup begins an experiment for an expanded format, that resembles what the international version of the tournament has famously been since 1998 until the most recent one in 2022.
An unprecedented 32 clubs will gather in one country over the summer, unlike previous CWC editions that took place in December with far fewer participants. And all the top footballing nations — including Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Brazil and Argentina — have at least two representatives.
However, Barcelona are perhaps the most high-profile side who aren’t invited.
Why is that? Here’s how it worked.
From Spain, Real Madrid are the defending European champions, so they’re in.
In that 2023/24 Champions League tournament, it came down to Barca and Atletico to earn one of the remaining spots, with a four-year coefficient score being the determining factor.
Barca’s exit to Paris Saint-Germain doomed them to be behind Atleti over that four-year span, and with two European clubs per country max being allowed, it means they miss out.
It’s the same reason such sides as Liverpool, Manchester United and AC Milan aren’t going. But if the format proves successful, one would imagine there will be a spot at a future edition for all four before long.
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Liam is a freelance editor for The Sporting News working across global English editions.
