European champions Manchester City will compete at the last edition of the current annual Fifa Club World Cup next week (Picture: Getty)
Manchester United and Liverpool will take no part in the reformatted 2025 FIFA World Cup.
Football’s governing body have, according to the Telegraph, has opted to limit the number of teams per country to two.
Overall, 32 clubs will compete for the trophy with the Premier League set to be represented by Champions League holders Manchester City and Chelsea who were crowned European champions two years ago.
Given their UEFA coefficient is considerably higher than Chelsea’s, who failed to qualify for Europe at all this season, Liverpool can feel particularly aggrieved at not being involved.
Ultimately, FIFA decided that Chelsea’s triumph in Porto against City carried more weight and the Blues will take their place in Saudi Arabia.
Arsenal could make it a trio of English teams competing, but they will have to win the Champions League this season in order to qualify.
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The tournament will be played from June 15 to July 13, while a new Intercontinental Cup will be played annually from next year, Gianni Infantino, the head of world soccer’s governing body, said on Sunday.
FIFA had announced an expanded Club World Cup earlier this year and unanimously voted to appoint the United States as hosts for the first edition of the event.
The Council met in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to ratify the dates for the Club World Cup and confirmed next year’s Intercontinental Cup would have the UEFA Champions League winner playing a team that comes through intercontinental playoffs.
The playoffs will be played on Dec. 14, 2024, followed by the final on Dec. 18.
The 2025 edition of the tournament, which will be held every four years, will have eight groups of four with the top two teams from each group going through to the knockout stages — the same format as the World Cup.
The current version of the FIFA Club World Cup – an annual competition with seven teams – will be discontinued after the tournament now also being hosted by Saudi Arabia.
The existing format sees the European and South American champions enter the tournament in the semi-final phase while champions from the other confederations come through earlier rounds.
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