Fifa may increase number of clubs per country at Club World Cup | OneFootball

Fifa is reportedly considering the idea of increasing the number of teams allowed per country in the next Club World Cup, the one in 2029.

It would be three instead of two, a rule that does not apply to countries with multiple continental champions during the tournament’s qualification period.

According to the English newspaper The Times, the goal would be to correct "injustices" seen in this year's edition, since Liverpool, Barcelona, and Napoli—national champions in 2024/2025—were left out.

The trio did not compete in the World Cup due to the club ranking and also because they had not won the Champions League in the four seasons preceding the competition held in the United States.

The possible change would impact the size of the tournament, which would then have 48 teams instead of the 32 seen this year.

However, according to journalist Kaveh Solhekol from Sky Sports, the organization did not discuss such a possibility during a meeting held this Thursday (2).

Two countries had more than two clubs in the first edition: Brazil and the United States—which took Mexico’s place in this regard.

Brazilian football had the presence of Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Botafogo due to their Libertadores titles from 2021 to 2024.

The US, on the other hand, would have had only two: Inter Miami—as the host country’s representative—and the Seattle Sounders, champions of the 2002 Concachampions.

But there was a dispute involving the Mexican clubs Pachuca and León, which belong to the same owner and won the Concacaf Champions League in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Fifa’s solution was a playoff between Los Angeles FC and Club América to determine the new representative in place of León—the MLS team prevailed.

Chelsea won the first Club World Cup by beating PSG in the final.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

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