Club World Cup Controversy: Players Won't Get Rest In Summer

JAKARTA - The team that plays in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup must arrive in the United States three to five days before their first match.

FIFA confirmed through tournament regulations published on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

This made the players face the situation of no rest day between the 2026 World Cup Qualification and the national team and the start of the 2025 Club World Cup tournament.

FIFA has contacted the team that qualified for the 2025 Club World Cup.

The tournament will be attended by 32 teams and feature 63 matches starting on June 15, 2025.

The tournament will close with a final match on July 13, 2025. However, the top match arena has not yet been announced.

In the latest FIFA regulations that have been disseminated, the participating clubs are also notified that they must deploy the strongest team in the match. For teams that do not comply with the rules, they will be fined.

The tournament, a project driven by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, has caused growing unrest in football.

In fact, league unions and associations took action against FIFA in European courts.

The top players also voiced their concerns over the number of matches they had to play.

While coaches like Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) and Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid) complained about the workload on their squad.

Given the international break scheduled for June 6-10, 2025 for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, FIFA urged clubs to arrive in the US three to five days before the first match could have forced players to represent the national team less than a week before playing in the Club World Cup.

The Champions League final will be held in Munich on May 31, 2025, a week before the international break.

This raises concerns for prospective teams to play in the Champions League finals, such as Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.

After competing in the Champions League final next year, the players must hurry home to strengthen the national team. Then, they returned to the club for the Club World Cup.

This means that there is a big chance of players without a break until mid-July 2025.

Another controversy, Club World Cup regulations also state that owners should not own shares of more than one club.

Then, the team must have a tournament squad consisting of 26-35 players, with a special transfer window opening between 1-10 June 2025.

FIFA will try every dispute between Club World Cup teams each of whom wants to bring the same players to the tournament.

The tournament is still taking place on June 30, 2025 when the player's contract usually ends. This forced FIFA to find new solutions to the transfer problem.

The players who are now in the spotlight to soon become free agents include Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Bayern trio Munich Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and Leroy Sane, Inter Milan defender Denzel Dumfries, and Real Madrid Ferland Mendy.

There are also Liverpool trios, namely Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

They can officially start talks in January 2025 with other clubs and reach an agreement to sign a contract with a new club next season.

However, the Club World Cup which will start on June 15, 2025 is technically still in the 2024/2025 season.

This means that there are no transfers of players before the stock exchange opens in the summer as usual.

However, FIFA has provided its members with the option to open an extraordinary transfer window starting June 1-10, 2025 to push for an agreement.

This means players in Europe can play for a team in the Champions League final on May 31, 2025 and for different teams 15 days later in the Club World Cup.

FIFA will also allow Club World Cup teams to change their squad list in the middle of the tournament, on 27 June-3 July 2025, to replace players whose contracts have expired.

However, players can only represent one team at the Club World Cup and will not qualify for a move and play for another team in the second half of the tournament.

FIFA has yet to confirm the tournament's prize money or details of the tournament draw, which is expected to take place in early December 2024.

Meanwhile, the final participants from South America will be decided on November 30, 2024 after the Copa Libertadores final between Brazil's teams, Atletico Mineiro, and Botafogo from Argentina.

The teams qualifying are clubs that won continental club championships from 2020 to 2024, or were ranked high because of consistent results in good competitions.

Each country is limited to two entries unless they have more than two title winners.

Brazil will have four teams, while the US and Mexico will have three teams.

FIFA added Lionel Messi's Inter Miami club to the list of participants last month to represent the host country based on its regular season record instead of waiting for the MLS Cup final on December 7, 2024.

Inter Miami will play in the opening match of the Club World Cup at the Miami Dolphins Stadium.