Real Madrid and their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, have clarified that the team will indeed compete in next year’s Club World Cup, following initial comments from the Italian suggesting otherwise.
Ancelotti’s earlier statement appeared in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, released on Monday, where he seemed to imply that the club would “refuse the invitation” to the tournament. However, the 65-year-old later clarified on social media that his remarks had been misunderstood. He emphasized his enthusiasm for the tournament, stating, “Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid.”
The La Liga champions reaffirmed their commitment to participating in the event. In an official statement, the club said, “Real Madrid would like to announce that at no time has there been any question regarding our participation in the new Club World Cup to be organised by Fifa in the coming 2024/2025 season. Our club will therefore take part, as planned, in this official competition and we are proud and excited to be involved in it and we will once again inspire our millions of fans all over the world with another trophy.”
Controversy and clarifications
In the initial interview, Ancelotti was quoted saying, “FIFA can forget it, footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament. A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million and Fifa wants to give us that amount for the whole cup. Negative. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.” This statement prompted the European Club Association (ECA) to distance itself from Ancelotti’s comments.
The controversy comes amid ongoing debates about the crowded football calendar. Last month, Fifa rejected claims from world players’ union Fifpro and the World Leagues Association (WLA), which includes the Premier League, that they were not consulted over the new tournament plans. Despite this, Fifpro and the WLA have called for the tournament to be rescheduled, even threatening legal action.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has expressed concerns over the increasing number of matches, stating the football calendar is “getting to a tipping point.” Meanwhile, Fifa president Gianni Infantino defended the tournament, noting, “Even with the new Club World Cup of Fifa with 32 teams and 63 matches every four years, Fifa is organising around 1% of the games of the top clubs in the world.”
Infantino added, “All other matches, 98, 99%, are organised by the different leagues, associations, confederations, by all of you – and that’s good. But here comes the thing – the one or two per cent of matches that Fifa organises is financing football all over the world.”
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