FIFA President Gianni Infantino has confirmed that FIFA will launch a 32-team men's Club World Cup in 2025.  -This will come four years after the proposed tournament failed to take off in China due to the pandemic. The FIFA president dropped several bombshells in a press conference ahead of Sunday's Argentina vs. France World Cup final game where the South American football giants beat their European counterparts on penalties 4-2.  He further claimed that the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup was 'the best World Cup ever'.  This revelation comes a few days after sources indicated that Europe's biggest clubs had rejected a proposal from FIFA to launch a new Club World Cup. 

However, Infantino carried out the plans at his conference in Doha. He said: 'It will be a Club World Cup of 32 teams, every four years, and the first edition will be summer of 2025. They will be the best teams in the world invited to participate.' Infantino did not provide any other information regarding the resurrected Club World Cup other than to say that it will include eight more teams than the would have been 2021 inaugural edition which would have featured 24-team teams. If they are to join the new competition, elite clubs and leagues want their major concerns which are the international calendar, player fatigue, and scheduling to be resolved. 

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters outlined his opposition to radical changes to the international calendar last year, a view shared by top clubs throughout Europe. “The Premier League is committed to preventing any radical changes to the calendar that would adversely affect player welfare and threaten the competitiveness, calendar, structures, and traditions of domestic football. This process should also involve meaningful agreements with the leagues that provide the foundations for the game,” said Masters. Infantino's bold move in announcing a new competition before reaching an agreement with the clubs is a well-worn tactic, which he also deployed in relation to the women's game by saying a Club World Cup would also begin in 2025. 

Furious fans have likened FIFA's plans to the 'Super League', meanwhile former England and Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher called for European clubs to boycott the proposals as they are 'getting treated like cattle'. Furious supporters have compared FIFA's proposals to the "Super League," while Jamie Carragher, a former defender for England and Liverpool, has called for European teams to reject the proposals because they are "getting treated like cattle." He said on Twitter: “Like the ridiculous idea of FIFA World Cup every two years, this is another one from Infantino. Players need rest at some point, they are getting treated like cattle. FIFA hate the Champions League & want something similar themselves. European clubs should boycott it.”

The current top FIFA club world cup competition features just seven clubs and is made up of the winners of each confederation's premier division, including the Champions League winners. UEFA are opposed to an idea they believe is a threat to the primacy of the Champions League, although the clubs can be persuaded to change their minds if the deal is extremely lucrative amid rumors of £150milllion being offered by FIFA as prize money. Over the past few weeks, negotiations have taken place in Qatar, but the clubs have refused to endorse the FIFA proposal.  Infantino in his press conference went ahead to state that the 2023 Club World Cup will be held in Morocco in February next year. The FIFA President also reviewed that the 48-teams world cup comprising of 16 groups of 3 teams each will have to be reviewed ahead of the 2026 continental showpiece event. "I have to say after this World Cup, and the success of the groups of four, we have to revisit or rediscuss the format whether we go for 16 groups of three or 12 groups of four," Infantino said. Football enthusiasts wait to see if the club world cub will become a reality or yet another wild goose chase.