United States picked to host expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
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“We are thrilled that the United States has been selected to host the most prestigious club competition in world soccer,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “This adds to the already unprecedented runway of top-tier events in which either our National Teams are involved or are taking place in our country and is yet another opportunity to grow the game here in the United States.”
The Club World Cup is scheduled to take place in June and July of 2025. The competition is set to include a newly expanded 32-team field and is being reimagined to take place every four years, a departure from its current setup, in which seven continental champions vie for a title every season. The new format also replaces a planned 24-team event that was expected to take place in 2021 before it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Clubs can qualify for the 2025 competition by winning a continental championship in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America or South America from 2021 through 2024. Europe was granted the most tournament entries with 12 teams. South America will have six, and no other continent is guaranteed more than four slots. The extra bids for European and South American clubs are expected to be awarded according to teams’ success in continental competitions over a four-year span.
Several clubs have already qualified, including recent UEFA Champions League winners Manchester City, Real Madrid and Chelsea. The 2025 field also already includes Brazilian powers Palmeiras and Flamengo, Monterrey and León of Mexico, recent African champions Al-Ahly (Egypt) and Wydad Casablanca (Morocco) and recent Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) and Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia).
Real Madrid defeated Al-Hilal to win the men’s 2022 Club World Cup title. A seven-team field will compete for the 2023 title in Saudi Arabia in December.
The awarding of the Club World Cup in 2025 means the United States could host a major international soccer competition every year for the next several years. The Concacaf Gold Cup is scheduled to start Saturday, followed by the Concacaf W Championship and Copa América in 2024. The United States will host the 2026 men’s World Cup along with Mexico and Canada, and it is vying to co-host the 2027 women’s World Cup with Mexico. Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics in 2028.
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“The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be the pinnacle of elite professional men’s club football, and with the required infrastructure in place together with a massive local interest, the United States is the ideal host to kick off this new, global tournament,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “With some of the world’s top clubs already qualified, fans from every continent will be bringing their passion and energy to the United States in two years’ time for this significant milestone in our mission to make football truly global.”
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Source: The Washington Post
