This would give the competition a much needed revamp
No-one really cares about the Club World Cup, do they? It seems that every winter Real Madrid take a couple of weeks off to fly to the middle east, add a few goals to Ronaldo’s tally and come back with another gold badge on their shirt.
Well, soon you might care about it more, as FIFA plan to revamp the competition. The idea includes extending the competition to 24 teams – it currently only features seven teams.
It would also involve moving it from the winter to the off season in the summer, and changing from an annual event to only taking place every four years.
The new 24-team format would include eight groups comprising three teams each. The group winners would then proceed to the quarter-final round, and so on. The finalists would play a maximum of five matches.
FIFA have held “promising” talks with confederations, associations and some of the world’s biggest clubs in recent weeks and FIFA chiefs will meet in May to discuss plans for the new tournament in more detail.
However, it’s unlikely to be popular among Europe’s elite clubs, who have recently requested fewer games on the calendar.
This is a fair concern, but it would certainly be a more entertaining watch than the usual pre-season tours we have to endure during those summer months without international tournaments.
