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Christian Pulisic joins Pat McAfee to discuss the current state of the United States men’s soccer team. (1:16)
FIFA isn’t requiring clubs participating in the 2025 Club World Cup to release players to their national teams while the competition is taking place, according to official competition documents published by world football’s governing body.
This could prevent some players from Canada, Mexico and the United States from taking part in the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup and could impact the on-field preparations for the 2026 World Cup, which the three countries are co-hosting.
While the numbers may be small, they could comprise some of the top players in the region. Canada could find itself without the services of Inter Milan attacker Tajon Buchanan, Bayern Munich defender Alphonso Davies and FC Porto midfielder Stephen Eustáquio. The U.S. might be missing the Juventus duo of Weston McKennie and Tim Weah, as well as Borussia Dortmund‘s Gio Reyna.
Depending on how things go over the next six months, the number of players who might be unable to play for the U.S. could extend to Dortmund’s Cole Campbell, Monterrey‘s Brandon Vasquez as well as Gaga Slonina and Caleb Wiley, who are on the books at Chelsea but currently on loan at Barnsley and Strasbourg, respectively.
The documents for the Club World Cup explicitly state in Section 22.5 that “for the duration of the Competition, it is not mandatory for clubs participating in the Competition to release their registered players to the representative teams of the country for which those players are eligible to play.” The one exception is for the international window from June 2-10, but this is prior to the start of both competitions, with the Club World Cup and Gold Cup both scheduled begin on June 14 of 2025.
The regulations also stipulate that “each participating club automatically undertakes to … field their strongest team throughout the competition.”
Previously, FIFA had required that clubs release players during international windows or for confederation championships such as the Gold Cup. The impact on Canada, Mexico and the U.S. could be considerable if some clubs put their foot down and don’t release players. The Gold Cup is the last official competition that the three countries will participate in prior to the 2026 World Cup, and as such, will be keen to have their full complement of players available in order to maximize their preparations.
FIFA declined to provide a comment beyond what is spelled out in the CWC regulations. Canada Soccer, the U.S. Soccer Federation and the Mexico Football Federation did not immediately provide a comment to ESPN.
“We are incredibly excited about next summer’s Gold Cup,” a Concacaf spokesperson told ESPN. “As the last official national team competition in our region before the 2026 World Cup, the tournament will provide all participating federations with a great challenge and will be critical to their preparations for World Cup qualification and the FIFA World Cup itself.
“It also presents a great opportunity for fans to engage with the sport at this exciting time for football in the region.
“We are aware of the changes FIFA has made to regulations overseeing the release of players, which may impact a very small number of players who are eligible to play in both tournaments but we know that the Gold Cup will be a tremendous success.”
Given that none of Mexico’s traditional Big Four of Club America, Cruz Azul, Chivas de Guadalajara and UNAM Pumas are in the Club World Cup, the potential impact appears to be less than that of Canada and the U.S., but El Tri could still find itself without the services of Monterrey’s Gerardo Arteaga and Germán Berterame, as well as up-and-coming Seattle Sounders midfielder Obed Vargas.
The Club World Cup has been a key passion of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, even as multiple stakeholders have complained of an increasingly congested calendar. Infantino is keen to see FIFA take more of a role in the club game, and siphon away revenues from the Champions League, even if it means hampering the World Cup on-field preparations of its 2026 co-hosts.
