That was decided by FIFA on Tuesday

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Behind FIFA lies a day full of decisions. On Tuesday, Rwanda not only decided on a format change for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. No, the world federation voted, among other things, on the participation criteria for the new Club World Cup and approved a concept for an annual club competition from 2024.

Consecutive. As already known, the 2026 World Cup will be held for the first time in history with 48 teams. The teams are divided into twelve groups of four. A mode with 16 groups of three was originally planned for this.

With the new mode, in addition to the group winners and runners-up, the eight best third-placed teams will also advance. In the knockout phase there is another round with a round of 16. For the countries, the mode means an eighth match on the way to the world title. At the 2026 World Cup, 104 matches will be played in about 40 days – that is 40 matches more than at the last tournament in Qatar.

Eight teams from Europe at the Club World Cup

Another FIFA decision that is causing a lot of discussion concerns the new World Cup for club teams. The world board has decided who will be allowed entry to the competition, which will be held every four years from 2025 with 32 teams.

Most teams will come from Europe. More than a third come from the UEFA area. Six countries will be sent from South America, four each from Africa, Asia and North America, and one each from Oceania. The field of participants completes the respective host country.

In Europe, qualification works as follows: The winners of the Champions League 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are certainly included. In addition, there are the eight best teams in a UEFA ranking over the same period. A maximum of two teams per country above the coefficient may participate, in total a maximum of four clubs per country may participate.

A new kind of BMW

But what will happen to the previous Club World Cup? The seven-team tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia for the last time in 2023. The continental associations have expressed the wish that the champions of their main club competitions continue to compete against each other every year, FIFA writes. “That is why the FIFA Council has decided on a strategic concept for an annual FIFA club competition from 2024.”

The winner of the European Champions League will meet a team in a neutral venue previously determined by the other continental associations in the play-offs. So it should be a kind of B-WK for clubs.

Source : Blick