Club World Cup likely to expand for 2029 with more Premier League clubs involved

Fifa has agreed to create a joint venture with the lobby group European Football Clubs (EFC) to operate the Club World Cup that is likely to see more Premier League clubs enter the lucrative competition. Chelsea earned around £84m from winning last year’s inaugural 32-team tournament, leading other big European clubs to lobby Fifa for it to be expanded to increase their chances of qualification. EFC coming on board is likely to accelerate plans to expand the competition to 48 clubs when it next takes place in 2029. Europe was represented by 12 clubs in the US last summer, with six from South America and five from the Concacaf North American confederation, but some of the biggest clubs in the world were absent. Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli, then champions of England, Spain and Italy respectively, did not take part, with qualification restricted to the four previous winners of the Champions League, and eight clubs with the highest Uefa coefficient. Fifa also capped entrants at two per country. The EFC is understood to want that cap lifted, which would have implications for English clubs because Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are all currently in Uefa’s coefficient top eight. EFC is likely to argue that increasing the number of European clubs will increase the Club World Cup’s commercial value following Fifa’s struggle to sell TV rights for the tournament. …