Fifa Club World Cup: when it starts, which teams are playing in football’s new-look event
US-hosted tournament features 32 teams and some of the world’s best players, but question marks remain over how it will received
Fifa’s newly expanded Club World Cup kicks off in Miami next Saturday, featuring some of football’s biggest stars, such as Lionel Messi, and greatest teams, like Real Madrid.
But the launch of the new-look tournament, staged in the United States, also comes with uncertainty over how it will be embraced in an already bloated calendar where football is played virtually year round.
This is world governing body Fifa’s big play to get a stronghold in the club game. Until now, club football’s marquee events have been regional competitions such as the prestigious Champions League, which is organised by European body Uefa.
Fifa hopes the four-yearly event will be to club football what the World Cup is to the international game and establish itself as one of the biggest and wealthiest tournaments in sport.
But that is far from assured amid a backlash from players over fear of burnout, and it is still unknown how much appetite there is among fans for another competition.