World football on collision course as Club World Cup revamp approved

World football’s governing body Fifa has ignored European opposition to its plan to revamp the Club World Cup by voting to approve a new 24-team tournament starting in June 2021. Describing him- self as a “very happy man”, Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced the decision after a meeting of the ruling council in Miami.

But the move to scrap the current seven-team tournament, which takes place every winter, and replace it with a more lucrative contest every fourth summer, would appear to set Fifa on collision course with Europe’s elite.

Infantino wants Europe to provide eight of the 24 teams, with six coming from South America,threeeachfromafrica, Asia and North and Central America and one from Oceania, and it is suggested that each club could earn £50 million for taking part.

But the European Club Association, Europe’s governing body Uefa and the world players’ union FIFPRO are unhappy withwhattheyclaimisalackof consultation. In a letter leaked yesterday, the ECA’S executive board said they would not take part in any new competition until 2024 at the earliest and would even consider suing Fifa if it ignored their 2015 deal on the international match calendar. Infantino’s original plan was to revamp the Club World Cup and start a Global Nations League but the latter has been quietly dropped.