Nigerian clubs may miss new FIFA Club World Cup

Infantino

As things stand, no Nigerian club is qualified for the revamped FIFA Club World Cup, which will begin in 2025.
FIFA announced on Sunday that its revamped Club World Cup, to be held for the first time in 2025, will feature 32 teams and will be played from mid-June to mid-July.

The maiden edition of the expanded competition will hold in the United States and thereafter be held every four years in designated countries.
According to the distribution of participants among the continents, Europe will have 12 teams in the new competition and South America will have six, while Africa, Asia and North America will have four each. Oceania has one slot, while the final slot will be allocated to a club from the host country.

The tournament 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.

FIFA said clubs would be ranked based on sporting criteria over four seasons to secure qualification for the Club World Cup.
Teams will get three points for a win, one point for a draw and three points for progress to each stage of their confederation’s premier competition.

Confederation champions from 2021-2024 will be eligible to play in the new Club World Cup, meaning Chelsea, Real Madrid and last season’s Champions League winners Manchester City have qualified from Europe.

The other European teams who have qualified based on the points system are Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Inter Milan, FC Porto and Benfica.
Only two teams from one country can qualify for the tournament unless they win the continental competition. For example, since Chelsea and City have qualified from England, Arsenal can qualify only if they win the Champions League this