By Nathan Salt
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The Club World Cup will go on to establish itself as a bigger sporting spectacle than the traditional World Cup despite its naysayers, according to Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Al-Khelaifi, who is also chairman of the European Club Association, believes the new-and-expanded version of the tournament, which launches in the United States in 2025, will become one of the biggest competitions on the planet.
‘The Club World Cup will be bigger than the World Cup itself, I promise you,’ he said on Wednesday at the Globe Soccer Forum in Sardinia.
‘Listen, it’s an amazing competition the FIFA World Cup. I’m proud of my players for their national teams but the Club World Cup will be something different, something bigger with the fanbases of 32 clubs worldwide brought together. I am so excited for it.’
The tournament, which will include teams such as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, will run from June 15 to July 13 in 2025 and will be marketed as the best of the best slugging it out across the States.
The revamped Club World Cup will be a ‘bigger’ deal than the World Cup, PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi believes. He is also on the organising committee for the tournament
The Club World Cup will expand from seven teams to 32 for a refreshed 2025 edition
But there have been criticisms, namely how it further strains players with the footballing calendar already bursting at the seams.
‘Sometimes the calendar can seem like distant conversation,’ PFA chief executive Maheta Molango said here in Sardinia.
‘When you look at the schedule for next summer, the UEFA Champions League final is May 31 and Nations League is June 4-June 10, then go to the USA from June 14 to July 13, then AFCON, then August 17 you start the league,’ he explained.
‘I don’t know how do you do that?’
He continued: ‘The difference between a World Cup of the national teams and a World Cup of clubs… the national team it’s a few players and they come back and you manage. When it’s Club World Cup everyone goes.
‘So everyone at [Man] City will be busy until, most likely, until July 30 and within a month they play in the Premier League.’
CEO of the City Football Group, Ferran Soriano, described the calendar congestion as a ‘crisis’ and pointed to the date of young players now finding themselves overworked compared to heroes of the past.
It was pointed out that Kylian Mbappe, for example, has played 37 per cent more minutes than Thierry Henry at the same age. His soon-to-be Real Madrid team-mate Vinicius Jr has played 12,000 more minutes than Ronaldinho at the same age.
PFA chief Maheta Molango warned about the strain extra games will have on players and staff
City Football Group CEO Ferran Soriano worries about a ‘crisis’ in expanding the calendar
‘Like everything in life, it’s priorities,’ Soriano said. ‘We have to decide what’s most important, starting with the health of the players.
‘We have got into a spiral where everyone is defending each business and we can’t go on like this.
‘We need to care about the players first but also and I say this because this is important, then the fans. What do the fans want to see? They are the engine of this business.
‘Do they want to see an improved Champions League or the Club World Cup or a Nations League? We need a system that serves our fans without killing our players and we are far from that now.’
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group
