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FIFA president opens door for bigger Premier League presence at future Club World Cup tournaments
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has hinted that future Club World Cup tournaments could see an even bigger Premier League presence after hailing the success of the 2025 competition.
Under the current FIFA qualifying process, only two teams from Europe's major leagues made it to the finals in the USA, with Chelsea set to take their place in the finale against PSG tonight.
However, there has been some criticism around the summer tournament and the fact that it lacked some further star power, such as Liverpool, AC Milan and Barcelona.
Yet, speaking at a media conference in New York, Infantino declared how happy the European teams were and suggested FIFA may look at tweaking the qualification process to allow more big names to be part of the Club World Cup.
"I've been speaking to teams from Europe who came here and all have been very happy," he said.
"And some teams from Europe who didn't qualify called us at FIFA and asked if they could participate.
"Of course [we] would love Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, AC Milan and Barcelona here, but there is a qualifying criteria.
"We will see what the future will bring us. We will make this better, we have had criticisms and we must do better.
"Should the country limits be two or four teams? There are many elements we can think about. For now, we go ahead again with this in 2029 and we will see.
"I respect everyone and every opinion of everyone. I had my own opinion before the tournament and this opinion has become even stronger now.
"It has been a huge, huge, huge success and the golden era of football has started."
During the conference at FIFA's new office in Trump Towers, Infantino also confirmed that stadium roofs will be used in next summer's 2026 World Cup, to ease the concerns seen in the last few weeks over the extreme heat players have been exposed to.
Tonight's final will kick off at 3pm local time in New York, and could see a temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit (28.8 degrees Celsius). While some games have been played in heat rising to 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.5 degrees Celsius). There's also concerns over the thunderstorms that have seen several games delayed in the past month.
However, FIFA's head honcho said that more games will be played under a roof in 2026.
He said, "Every criticism we receive is a source for us to study and analyse what can do better," Infantino told reporters at a media conference in New York.
"Of course the heat is an issue. Last year, at the Olympic Games in Paris, games during the day, in all sports, took place in very hot conditions.
"Cooling breaks are very important and we will see what we can do, but we have stadiums with roofs and we will definitely use these stadiums during the day next year."
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