Why Top Clubs Including Barcelona And Liverpool Are Missing the FIFA Club World Cup (image-instagram/lamineyamal)

The three top clubs, Liverpool, Barcelona, and Napoli, champions of England, Spain, and Italy, respectively, will not be participating in the FIFA Club World Cup. While FIFA President Gianni Infantino has claimed that the new 32-team tournament is designed to determine the best club in the world, the selection criteria used by the footballing body raise serious questions.

Though the qualifying criteria were brought in to reflect the strength of the clubs over the past four years, the footballing body itself diluted it by making way for Inter Miami, one of the three MLS clubs which will represent the host nation. Meanwhile, MLS Champion Los Angeles Galaxy was not given a spot. Inter Miami became a major brand after the entry of superstar Lionel Messi.

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The club earned its ticket to the tournament by finishing top of the regular-season standings in last year’s MLS. Though it wasn’t part of the official qualification criteria, Infantino openly announced it on the pitch during the celebrations, in person.

And as the opening match of the tournament, Messi’s Inter Miami will face Egypt’s Al Ahly on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium. Unfortunately, this time, the legend’s magic didn’t work well as the organisers had to cut down the ticket prices of the match, reported Al Jazeera.

To make the tournament even more attractive, Infantino had tried to bring yet another football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, to the Club World Cup as well. However, Ronaldo’s recent announcement to continue with Al Nassr came as a major blow to Infantino’s hopes.

Another major setback is that the rising star Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona player, will not be featured in the tournament.

As per the report, a $1bn TV rights deal with sports streaming platform DAZN was finalised six months before the tournament, undeniably welcome for the participating clubs, particularly the winners who’ll receive up to $125m.

However, the expansion of the tournament and placing it in the June–July months were not well received by the coaches and players. The players’ union FIFPRO had gone to the extent of going for legal action, calling FIFA “inherently abusive” for adding so many games.

Liverpool, who had won the English Premier League, had failed to qualify for the tournament. The Dutch coach Arne Slot had said that it wouldn’t be healthy for the players to go into a tournament one after the other without a proper break.

The absence of Napoli, Serie A champions, is unfortunate for hosts and organisers. Meanwhile, the line-up does include Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Manchester United, who all found their form late season. Meanwhile, PSG, being the champion of the Champions League, holds the key to the tournament’s credibility.

The Club World Cup is yet to prove the current interest in football from the American public and also a year before hosting the 48-team World Cup. Though many see it as part of FIFA’s vision to “prove the world’s best team,” in the backstage, it seems to be a clash between the FIFA President and UEFA. So far, the Champions League is regarded to be the best knockout club competition in world football.

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Tensions between FIFA and UEFA recently surfaced when Infantino arrived late to the FIFA Congress in Paraguay, straight from meetings in the Middle East during US President Donald Trump’s state visit. UEFA’s delegates walked out mid-meeting over what they called a “deeply regrettable” delay.

Whether Infantino can make the tournament a success, filling empty seats and managing four matches per day across multiple time zones, remains a difficult question.