Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has slammed FIFA’s proposed 32-team Club World Cup proposal and urged the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United to boycott it.
On Friday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed that the much discussed, revamped Club World Cup competition will make its debut in 2025.
Infantino failed to elaborate on which teams would be involved but insisted FIFA was ready to capitalise on the ever increasing popularity of football, highlighted by, in his words, the most successful World Cup ever in Qatar.
Since Infantino was elected FIFA president in 2016, he has been desperate to expand the Club World Cup, an annual tournament where the winners of each continent’s biggest competition, in Europe’s case the Champions League, play each other.
It is, nor has ever been, a particularly prestigious tournament, at least for European teams, with the Champions League very much the most popular club competition in the world.
The announcement has been viewed by many as nothing more than a money-making scheme for Infantino and FIFA, whose popularity and creditably have taken a massive blow thanks to all the controversies surrounding the staging of the World Cup in Qatar.
There are also significant concerns over how the addition of a 32-team tournament to the already packed football calendar will affect the physical well-being of players.
It is for these reasons that Carragher believes that European clubs should take a stand against FIFA on this proposal.
‘Players need rest at some point, they are getting treated like cattle,’ the former England defender wrote on Twitter.
‘FIFA hate the Champions League and want something similar themselves. European clubs should boycott it.’
Infantino did comment on how players involved in the Club World Cup would be protected, announcing a number of measures that would see the calendar, particularly the placement of the international breaks, altered in order to better space out games.
He added: ‘A very important element is we have to take into consideration is the health and well-being of players hence four-game window, rather than two-game windows.
‘We need to make sure there is a rest period for the players. We will consult on these topics and elaborate.’
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