FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Better than... the World Cup?

Why is it possible to say that the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is even better than the World Cup? And here are the reasons why the audience is waiting so that they will not be disappointed.

THINGS THE WORLDCUP WILL NEVER HAVE

The World Cup is a playground for national teams, while the FIFA Club World Cup is for clubs. National teams are not as free to buy players as clubs. Therefore, even the strongest teams in the world never have a balance between positions in the squad, do not have enough players who are both excellent and suitable for the coach's professional views. This is the first disadvantage that shows that the professional quality may not be as high as expected from the biggest tournament in the football world: the World Cup between national teams.

Real Madrid will compete at the FIFA Club World Cup to salvage a trophyless season.

PHOTO: AP

Most of the world's top coaches only want to work in club football. That means the World Cup is often short on good coaches. The current holder of the title of World Coach of the Year (FIFA's annual award, 2024) is Carlo Ancelotti, of Real Madrid. Of the last 20 coaches to have made it into the top 3 of this award, only... 3 and a half have been national team coaches. They are Lionel Scaloni (Argentina, 2018, best), Zlatko Dalic (Croatia, 2018, third), Roberto Mancini (Italy, 2021, runner-up). The remaining coach is Luciano Spalletti (2023, runner-up). He coached Napoli, helping them win the Serie A title for the first time since Maradona, and was awarded the award mainly for that achievement. But from August 2023, Spalletti switched to coaching the Italian team, so his 2023 award is counted for both Napoli and the Italian team.

In addition to the fact that the teams are not evenly matched and do not have many good coaches, the playing style at the World Cup is not as good and smooth as club football. That is because tactics must go hand in hand with suitable players, and the teams cannot buy players to suit the coach's preferred tactics. The teams also do not practice every day and compete every week like clubs, so the playing style is not smooth.

STILL EXCITING DESPITE THE ABSENCE OF BARCELONA AND LIVERPOOL

The things that the World Cup lacks are the things that the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will have. This tournament has actually been around for a long time, but because it was not large enough, the quality was low and it was always at risk of "dying young", until it "died" in 2023. Now, FIFA has upgraded this tournament with a sudden increase in the number of teams to 32, a cycle of 4 years/time, and the competition format is exactly like the World Cup. The first tournament will open on June 14 and end on July 13, 2025. The matches will take place at 12 stadiums in 11 cities in the US. Many documents record the opening date as May 31. In fact, on that day, there was only 1 play-off match to determine the last place in the tournament, between the 2 clubs Los Angeles FC (USA) and America (Mexico).

In principle, the "Club World Cup" is a tournament between continental champions. Because the cycle is 4 years/time, the starting point for selecting the finalists is the continental champions in the last 4 years. The next criterion is the club ranked highest in the continental rankings. This year's tournament has 12 clubs from Europe, 6 clubs from South America, 4 clubs from Asia, 4 clubs from Africa, 4 clubs from CONCACAF, 1 club from Oceania and 1 club from the host country. Each country cannot have more than 2 representatives, unless they are all continental champions in the last 4 years.

Selection results: Brazil is the most represented country, as all four teams Botafogo, Fluminense, Flamengo, Palmeiras have won the Copa Libertadores in the last four years. The rest of the South American region is made up of the two highest-ranked clubs: River Plate, Boca Juniors (both from Argentina). The European representatives are the Champions League champions of the last four years (Real Madrid of Spain, Chelsea and Manchester City of England). The rest are the highest-ranked clubs in Europe: Bayern Munich (Germany), PSG (France), Inter (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Benfica (Portugal), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Juventus (Italy), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria).

So, Liverpool and Barcelona are the two unfortunate absentees from this year's tournament. But that's okay! The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is still expected to be exciting and captivating.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-club-world-cup-2025-hay-hon-ca-world-cup-185250512201229135.htm