FIFA defiant over Club World Cup despite legal action

European teams are finding preparations for FIFA's new-look Club World Cup "challenging" but remain confident the tournament will be a long-term success, European Club Association chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi has said.

The 32-team event is due to be played for the first time in the United States next summer but so far no match or training venues have been confirmed and clubs who would normally go on lucrative pre-season tours have not received any guarantees around revenue.

Separately, but equally seriously, FIFA is facing legal action from domestic leagues and player unions over the tournament’s scheduling.

The ECA is working closely with FIFA on the project through a Joint Venture, and its chairman Al Khelaifi remains upbeat.

"It’s challenging but we’re confident," he said at an ECA meeting in Dublin.

"ECA recognises there are challenges launching any new format or concept, but we firmly believe in the tournament.

"In time it will bring important revenues to both participating and non-participating clubs, without significantly adding to the overall calendar, and it will excite fans all across the world."

Some of Europe’s competing clubs are understood to have privately questioned whether they should start preparing for pre-season tours next summer, with that revenue crucial to helping them comply with domestic and continental financial rules.

So far no broadcasting deals have been announced for the tournament and clubs are understood to have been given only loose projections of what they stand to earn. Clubs do have full visibility of the process around the broadcasting tenders though, with the ECA understood to be working with FIFA on a daily basis on this issue.

There has been speculation from multiple sources that FIFA could