CONTROVERSIAL DECISION BY FIFA?
Published:21/10/2024 – 21:10h
Updated:21/10/2024 – 23:16h
Finally, the ‘fixture’ of the 2025 Club World Cup has been completed. It is important to remember that there was still one spot available for this event. How would this last team to be part of this football celebration taking place in the middle of next year be determined? This spot belonged to the host country, that is, the United States. The qualification criteria did not seem to be very clear, giving the impression that the spot would be granted more by invitation than by specific sporting merit.
Now, which team has finally been selected? The choice has turned out to be the desired one by many, probably the most publicized, with the trending team in the United States: Inter Miami, which boasts former players from FC Barcelona like Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba. Although this option may be one of the most attractive, it has generated some controversy.
FIFA has granted this spot to Inter Miami, arguing that they have earned it after winning the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, an award that honors the best team of the regular season in Major League Soccer. ‘The Herons’ set a record for points earned in the history of this competition, accumulating 74 points, an unprecedented achievement.
“Congratulations on your wonderful achievement of winning the Supporters’ Shield 2024. You have shown that in the United States, you are consistently the best club on the field. Therefore, I am proud to announce that, as one of the best clubs in the world, you are deserving participants in the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025 as the host club representing the United States,” expressed Gianni Infantino, FIFA President.
However, some critics argue that FIFA has not truly selected the best team of the season in the United States, but has applied a convenient criterion for Inter Miami to be the chosen team, primarily motivated by marketing considerations. What is the basis for this argument?
This argument is based on the fact that, although Inter Miami has been the most outstanding team during the MLS regular season, the tournament has not yet concluded, as the conference playoffs are still pending to determine the overall champion. From these critical sectors, it is argued that ‘The Herons’ should not have been chosen so soon, as it would have been more appropriate to wait for the postseason, given that in football, a game of probabilities, there is the possibility that the team presided over by David Beckham may not survive these knockout rounds and another equally deserving team could have qualified for the World Cup.
Locked in. 🔒
The 2024 Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs are set. pic.twitter.com/wAqiTRTUR3
The main reproach is that by choosing Inter Miami prematurely, other teams that are also in the playoffs have been deprived of the opportunity to earn this spot fairly. It is argued that by securing the qualification for the ‘pink’ team based on the Supporters’ Shield, the competition that still had to take place in the playoffs has been overlooked, where another team could have demonstrated similar merits.
It is evident that in this controversy, sporting criteria do not always prevail. Factors such as economic considerations, marketing, and other influences can affect the selection of teams for high-profile events like this Club World Cup. It will be interesting to see how the competition unfolds when the time comes and the ball starts rolling in the United States, in a new competition organized by FIFA that promises sporting spectacle but has been presented from the outset as an additional burden on an already saturated schedule of competitions for players.
