In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo (Al-Nassr not having won the Asian Champions League last season), Fifa offered Lionel Messi to the casting of the 2025 Club World Cup. This “Club Super World” imagined by Gianni Infantino, with 32 participants, will take place from June 15 to July 13 and the presence of the Ballon d’Or record holder could well help the international body to (finally) sell the TV rights of the competition to the four corners of the world (so far, it’s a resounding flop).
The participation of David Beckham’s Florida club has been official for a few days and the end of the MLS regular season with first place for Inter Miami. An announcement that gets people talking. The “La Pulga” club is in fact neither winner of the North American Champions League (Monterrey, the Seattle Sounders, Leon and Pachuca are the last four winners and are all qualified), nor the MLS champion in title (it was the Columbus Crew who won last year).
Messi rather than the Columbus Crew
In reality, Fifa has perfectly prepared its move. The international body has always announced the presence of a club from the host country of the 2025 Club World Cup, but without ever specifying the identity of the American club. Fifa could have offered this “slot” to the 2023 MLS champion (Columbus Crew) or to the future winner of the playoffs on December 7, but therefore took advantage of Inter Miami’s first final place in the regular season to bring back Lionel Messi . Draw for the Club World Cup next December, probably after the end of MLS…
Twelve European clubs will be there: the last three winners of the Champions League, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, and the nine best teams from the last four LDC seasons, i.e. Bayern, PSG, Inter Milan , Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atlético and Salzburg. A country can only be represented by two clubs maximum. Barça was beaten by Atlético and England will therefore not send Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United!
