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FIFA will host a new, expanded version of the Club World Cup in the United States around this time next year, with 32 teams from around the world competing for the title.
Chelsea will be back in the top flight after a second consecutive season without qualifying for the Champions League.
FIFA’s decision to introduce the new month-long 63-match tournament during a period in soccer’s packed calendar usually reserved for major international tournaments and players’ summer breaks has been controversial, with FIFPro and the World League Association threatening legal action, saying the governing body has not shown enough regard for player welfare and the organisation of domestic leagues.
But those concerns are not shared by the powers that be at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea are seen as enthusiastic and early supporters of the Club World Cup and have factored it into decision-making at many levels, not least their move this summer to part ways with Mauricio Pochettino by mutual consent and hire Enzo Maresca as manager on a five-year contract.
Chelsea were looking ahead to what would essentially be a double season, with two domestic league games played before and after the Club World Cup, and wanted to secure a long-term manager who would fit their structure and culture to minimise disruption ahead of the tournament. They concluded that Maresca met some of the criteria that Pochettino did not.
Maresca’s most immediate task is to lead Chelsea back to the Champions League with a top-four finish in the Premier League in 2024-25, but the new Club World Cup is also seen internally as a key trophy for the manager and his team to target, alongside the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa Conference League.
The Club World Cup helped Maresca join the club (Glynn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
There has also been considerable thought given to how best to structure Chelsea’s squad to cope with 75-80 competitive matches across all competitions over the next 12 months, as well as how pre-season preparations for the 2025-26 season may need to change to take into account Club World Cup commitments.
But overall, Chelsea do not expect the summer of 2025 to be any more difficult than this summer, with many of their players called up for the Euros, Copa America and the Olympics. Indeed, one advantage of the Club World Cup is that it gives clubs more direct control over their players’ training volumes and training schedules, rather than influencing national team commitments.
Despite the challenges, an expanded Club World Cup offers something all top clubs always look for: a potentially lucrative opportunity to increase revenue. Chelsea’s qualification for the inaugural tournament, secured by winning the Champions League in the 2020-21 season, has already had a positive impact on “enterprise value,” according to Football Benchmark, a trusted data and analytics platform.
FIFA has yet to confirm how much prize money it will offer to Club World Cup participants and eventual winners due to protracted negotiations with potential broadcast and sponsorship partners. Still, the final figure is expected to be meaningful for a club with revenues like Chelsea, which broke the 500 million-pound ($635 million) barrier for the first time in its 2022-23 financial year.
Detail is Athletic FIFA announced earlier this month that it still has some major hurdles to overcome to get an expanded Club World Cup off the ground, chief among them a broadcasting deal that would balance the new competition’s guaranteed revenues with television viewership, and a level of sponsorship that would ensure participation is financially worthwhile for some of Europe’s leading clubs.
But Chelsea have no doubt that FIFA will realise president Gianni Infantino’s grand vision next summer and that over time it will grow into a prized fixture on the quadrennial football calendar.
The new format of the tournament was Infantino’s idea (François Nel/Getty Images)
Real Madrid, despite manager Carlo Ancelotti’s public comments, are set to take part in 2025. Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Porto, Benfica and Red Bull Salzburg are also due to take part.
The past two years have made it clear that Chelsea are no longer guaranteed to play against such rarefied teams in Europe, but they could face Copa Libertadores winners and Champions League winners from North America, Asia and Africa. The truly global nature of the tournament is what sets it apart and is likely to resonate particularly with the vast number of supporters of elite European clubs living abroad.
Chelsea sees its participation in the Club World Cup as a unique opportunity to engage with and grow its widespread global fan base, and the United States is a fitting destination, offering a wealth of large, modern stadiums surrounded by attractive hotels and facilities for traveling supporters.
There is also the possibility that FIFA could partner with a global streaming platform to allow fans to watch the tournament on their smartphones and tablets from anywhere in the world.
Most importantly, it’s a grand international stage on which Chelsea can comfortably plan, with their exile from Europe’s elite club competition hopefully nearing an end, although the same cannot be said for the Champions League.
(Top photo: François Nel/Getty Images)
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