MIAMI - The draw for the expanded 2025 Fifa Club World Cup takes place in Miami on Dec 5, offering a first glimpse into the tournament that has been viewed with indifference or even outright hostility across parts of the football world.
Star-studded club teams, 32 in all, will battle it out in gleaming state-of-the-art arenas in what is effectively a curtain-raiser for the 2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In theory, the new-look competition ought to be an enticing prospect that sells itself - a month-long football festival, the first large-scale club tournament to feature teams from all corners of the globe.
Yet for many, Fifa president Gianni Infantino's passion project is a tournament too far, an unwelcome addition to an already crowded global calendar that exhausted players say has pushed them close to breaking point.
The loudest antipathy towards the tournament, and Fifa, has come from Europe, as the event will be held during its off-season.
In October, an umbrella grouping of top European leagues, together with the players' union, FIFPro, filed a legal complaint to the European Commission accusing Fifa of abusing its position over its handling of the international fixture calendar.
This story is from the December 05, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the December 05, 2024 edition of The Straits Times.
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