FIFA Club World Cup to be spread across 29 days in summer of 2025 | UK News

There will be 12 representatives from Europe in the competition, with the participation of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City already determined as recent Champions League winners.

The new Club World Cup will be spread across 29 days by FIFA in the summer of 2025, Sky News can reveal – finishing around a month before the new Premier League season.

FIFA has set aside 15 June to 13 July in 2025 for the inaugural edition of a 32-club men’s tournament in the United States, sources say.

The new Premier League season could be starting four weeks after the final – sparking concerns about the additional workload on players who could be required for more than 80 matches in the season.

It is understood teams will have a minimum of three days’ rest between games to address concerns about player welfare.

The Club World Cup dates are due to be presented to a meeting on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, of the FIFA Council that is headed by Gianni Infantino and had previously approved the launch of the new competition.

The tournament would follow the end of the European season and the 2-10 June slot already set aside for two international matches – potentially 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Europe.

Read more:
Delia Smith’s car hit by beer can before football match
A Question Of Sport axed by BBC

There will be 12 representatives from Europe, with the participation of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City already determined as recent Champions League winners.

The European Club Association, which represents the leading teams, has endorsed the new competition and is working with FIFA on selling the commercial rights.

The Club World Cup is taking the slot used the year before the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups as a test event in the host nations – the now-defunct, eight-country Confederations Cup.

FIFA sees the new Club World Cup as addressing the dominance of Europe by giving clubs from other continents access to an enhanced competition.

Ahead of the FIFA Council meeting in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Sky News has learned that the global players’ union FIFPRO has told the governing body that players need a mandatory 28-day off-season break.

Calendar challenges

If that was adopted in 2025 it would pose challenges for the Premier League over what to do about teams reaching the Club World Cup final and potentially needing to start the new domestic season about 28 days later when pre-season training would usually be required.

A further headache would be a team also required to play in the 2025 Community Shield…