Gianni Infantino 'calls emergency meeting' on Club World Cup, with major concerns

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has reportedly called an emergency meeting over concerns about the lack of interest in the new Club World Cup expansion.

According to The Athletic, officials from world football's governing body have been called in for talks with television executives in a bid to drum up interest in the revamped tournament ahead of its launch next year.

The new 2025 competition will see 32 teams from around the world play matches over a month-long period in the United States, the same venue where the next World Cup will be held in 2026.

Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are among the 12 European teams that will be included, while six South American teams, four from Asia, Africa and North and Central America and one from Oceania will also be selected.

However, there are few other details available on the exact venues where the matches will take place and FIFA is now said to be stepping up negotiations to secure sponsors and decide on key details of the tournament – after a deal with tech giant Apple fell through.

The report says FIFA has yet to secure broadcasters, decide which venues will be used or which training bases will be allocated to teams. FIFA has also not informed clubs how much they can expect in return for their participation – after a £38m windfall was initially mooted for teams.

The proposed tournament has been the subject of a barrage of criticism due to concerns over player exhaustion, with Manchester City's Rodri hinting at the possibility of a players' strike due to the intense demands.

Yet FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the competition this summer, saying the event was comparable to national team tournaments like the World Cup: “FIFA organises about 1% of the matches of the best clubs in the world. As far as national teams are concerned, it's very similar.”

He then explained the global impact of FIFA's work, saying: “If you look at all the national team matches around the world, we still have between 1 and 2% of the matches that are organised by FIFA. All the other matches, 98 to 99%, are organised by other organisations, by different leagues, associations and confederations.”

Infantino also highlighted FIFA's financial contribution to sport worldwide: “With these 1 or 2% of matches organised by FIFA, FIFA finances football worldwide. The revenue we generate does not only go to a few clubs in one country. The revenue we generate goes to 211 countries. No other organisation does that. I hope that these figures… will probably put an end to this futile debate.”