Real Madrid will REJECT Club World Cup place, says Carlo Ancelotti: 'FIFA can forget it'
Carlo Ancelotti has said that Real Madrid and other clubs are ready to boycott FIFA’s new-look Club World Cup next summer.
An expanded 32-team competition is due to take place in America at the end of the 2024-25 season, with Chelsea and Manchester City among 12 European clubs to have qualified.
But Ancelotti has raised doubts over the tournament after revealing that Champions League winners Real plan to pull out, claiming a lack of financial incentive as one of the factors.
There has been a backlash over plans to add a new-look Club World Cup to an already packed football calendar because of concerns over player welfare.
The competition is due to be played across four weeks in the United States from June 15 to July 13, with the final taking place just four weeks before the start of the next Premier League season.
“FIFA can forget it, players and clubs will not participate in that tournament,” Ancelotti said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
“A single Real Madrid match is worth €20million and FIFA wants to give us that amount for the entire cup. Negative. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.”
The Club World Cup has previously been held as a mini-tournament during the season which usually involves the Champions League winners playing in just the semi-finals and final.
The last edition, in Saudi Arabia in December 2023, featured just seven teams and was won by Manchester City, who beat Brazilian side Fluminense in the final.
The new-look expanded tournament will feature eight groups of four teams and the winners will need to play seven matches.
World players' union Fifpro, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola are among those to have expressed concerns over the plans.
Fifpro, the PFA and the World Leagues Association (WLA) have threatened legal action over the growing number of games in the football calendar.
PFA chief executive Maheta Molango believes players are now at breaking point and has threatened they could go on strike if FIFA do not row back on their plans.
Speaking last month, FIFA president Gianni Infantino rejected claims that players are being overworked.
“FIFA is organising around 1 per cent of the games of the top clubs in the world,” Infantino said. “When it comes to the national teams, it is very similar.
"If you look at all the national team games around the world, we still have between 1 per cent and 2 per cent of the matches which are organised by FIFA.
“All other matches, 98 per cent to 99 per cent, are organised by other organisations.”
