JAKARTA - La Liga president Javier Tebas has again criticized the expansion of the 2025 Club World Cup by saying that the goal is to remove the tournament from the football calendar.
Last week, Tebas said the tournament was completely unreasonable and went further on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, after watching 25 minutes of Chelsea's 2-0 win over the LAFC, which he compared with friendly matches.
"By eliminating it," Tebas said at an event at the ESADE Business School in Madrid when asked how FIFA could do a better job in compiling the Club World Cup in the future.
"My goal is that there will be no more Club World Cups, I am very clear about that."
"There is no room for that. There is no need for another tournament to pour money into clubs and (the same) players."
"This model affects the entire national league ecosystem, especially in Europe, and there is no more money in the world of audiovisual rights."
"We must maintain the ecosystem that we already have and eliminate. Keep (the Club World Cup) as before, when played basically over one weekend and that's all. No date is available," he said.
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"I saw a little Chelsea game. It looked like a pre-season friendly. I didn't see any intensity, at least for the 25 minutes I watched," he said again.
The 2025 Club World Cup, which takes place across the United States, began on June 14, 2025 with a goalless draw between Inter Miami and Al Ahly. The tournament runs until July 13, 2025.
There are 32 teams that take part in this expanded version, including two teams from Spain, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and are scheduled to take place every four years.
Portugal club president Porto said the club had difficulty recruiting players ahead of the event, with a transfer target refusing a special move to avoid the burden of the tournament's additional fixture schedule.
FIFA has given the league the option to open the transfer window between June 1-10 and 2025 so that clubs participating in the 2025 Club World Cup can recruit players before the tournament.
"We tested the market recently. So, we have a special transfer window from June 1-10, 2025 where Club 2025 World Cup clubs operate."
"It's amazing to see a lot of football players not wanting to join the tournament. They prefer to rest to start the new season freshly."
"So, this is actually amazing because FIFPRO (professional football player union) demands more rest time for the players," Andre Villas-Boas, President Porto, told Men in Blazers.
A FIFPRO study concluded that a four-week break outside the season should be an obligation for professional football players.
"With the World Cup to be held in the America season in 2026, it's a bigger tournament -- more teams, maybe 1,200 athletes in one tournament."
"So, the calendar is getting tiring and we have more injuries. The players can't perform well if they don't get fit," Villas-Boas said again.
Villas-Boas, a former manager at clubs such as Porto, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur, also said that the tournament expanded to 32 teams came at a very bad time for European clubs ending the tiring season in May 2025.
Meanwhile, Barcelona, who were not involved in the tournament, went ahead with plans to strengthen their squad this summer.
They have successfully recruited Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia with a release clause of 25 million euros. The Blaugrana has also been closely linked to Athletic Club winger Nico Williams in recent days.
Tebas said Barcelona still couldn't register players freely. They are still bound by La Liga regulations that only allow them to spend a small part of what they save or collect on the transfer market for new players.
"One thing is to inaugurate (recruitment of Garcia), another thing is to register players."
"We'll see. Barcelona still needs to do a few things to be able to register players."
"Not much in this case, but they have to give space, for sure. Barcelona already knows what to do."
"All I hear is Nico Williams, other people, then the others. I don't know. First, what has to be reported must be true, which I don't know whether it's true or not. However, they are still not in Rule 1:1. There still needs to be movement," said Tebas.
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