Three points in the form of the FIFA Club World Cup 2024

FIFA has defined the format of the new intercontinental tournament that will be played in the intermediate years of the FIFA Club World Cup, in 2025. In practice, it is also a global club tournament featuring practically the same teams as the current one. However, the team that won the Copa Libertadores lost its place and will enter the quarter-finals, not the semi-finals.

This information was first published by “Globo Esporte” and confirmed by the blog.

There is still no FIFA name for this new tournament. Its first edition will be in 2024. It will always be played in years when the World Cup is not held with 32 teams. Look at three points:

South America in the quarter-finals

According to the approved formula, the Libertadores champion will face the winner of the CONCACAF champion title, in the quarter-finals. On the other side, the champions of Asia, Africa and Oceania battle it out over a triangle. The two winners of this confrontation will be in the semi-finals of the competition.

Whoever wins the semi-finals will qualify to decide against the Champions League winner for the title. In practice, the South Americans no longer enter the semi-finals as they did until 2022.

Match format and locations

FIFA has not yet determined how these cross-continental qualifiers will be played. But only the semi-finals of the tournament, which will be in the same neutral country where the decision will be made with the European champions. It will take place a few days before the final.

For the quarter-finals, there are three alternatives: 1) a match at a neutral venue 2) a home match of one of the two teams 3) a two-legged knockout with one away match and one home match.

The current competition situation

FIFA is not, at the moment, calling the new tournament the Club World Cup. In fact, there was no definition of the name referring only to an annual tournament between clubs. There is a difference in status with the new ‘Club World Cup’, as the 2025 competition has been called.

Given Brazil’s history, this is very likely to spark a new debate about whether or not it’s a World Cup.