• Fifa president targets revamped version of tournament • ‘We need to make the Club World Cup more interesting for teams’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Gianni Infantino wants to radically expand the Club World Cup and move the tournament from December to June.

The Fifa president intends the Club World Cup, which brings together the champions from each of the continental federations, to have a similar format to the Champions League, which has a 32-team group stage.

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He said the first edition of the revamped version of the tournament could take place in 2019.

“Today football is not just about Europe and South America, the world has changed and that’s why we need to make the Club World Cup more interesting for teams, and also for fans around the world,” Infantino told the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.

“That’s what we’re trying to do, by creating a tournament that is much more attractive, with more quality among participants and more clubs. That will attract more sponsors and television companies from around the world.”

In a separate interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, he said he wanted to see 32 teams in the competition.

Barcelona, Champions League winners in 2015, are the holders of the Club World Cup, having beaten South America’s then Copa Libertadores champions River Plate in last year’s final.

Real Madrid will represent Europe in this year’s competition, which begins in December in Japan, with South America’s representatives being Atlético Nacional of Colombia.

The first Club World Cup was held in 2000. In 2004 it replaced the Intercontinental Cup, which featured only the winners of the continental competitions in Europe and South America.

Infantino also suggested some European leagues, such as La Liga, should reduce the number of teams in the division from 20 to 18 to prevent fixture congestion.

“The Spanish league with its 20 teams is not the best formula at all, not for the calendar nor for many other reasons,” he said.

Infantino was elected in February to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter. He has also proposed expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 48.