Money, always more money. And a kind of blank check for Fifa. This Monday in Budapest, the European Club Association (ECA), which was celebrating its 29th general assembly, and Fifa signed a protocol which “strengthens the relationship” between the two organizations, “bringing long-term stability to football of selections and clubs”, welcome the ECA and Fifa. Above all, it allows the international federation to support the biggest European clubs.
Concretely, with this agreement, the clubs which make their internationals available will see the compensation from Fifa jump to 355 million dollars (329 million euros) from the 2026 World Cup – the first to go from 32 to 48 selections – , against 209 million dollars (193 million euros) for the 2018 and 2022 editions. In return, the European clubs, which employ almost all of the best players on the planet, undertake to “comply until 2030 on the international match calendar”, approved by the FIFA executive on March 14.
The 32-team Club World Cup will see the light of day in 2025
This support promises to be crucial for the boss of world football, Gianni Infantino, re-elected on March 16 without opposition until 2027, and who plans to extend the grip of Fifa both on football selections and on the club soccer. In addition to extending the Men’s World Cup to 48 teams, he intends to introduce a quadrennial Club World Cup with 32 teams from 2025, which will be added to an annual game between the winner of the Champions League and that of a mini-tournament. intercontinental.
The agreement signed in Budapest “recognizes the central role of clubs in world football and guarantees that they are properly represented in the decision-making processes on issues that concern them”, underlined Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, boss of the ECA, from PSG and the BeIN media group. The Qatari leader also announced that Fifa and ECA were going to “deepen their working relations” on the new Club World Cup, “including at the level of the sporting and commercial aspects of the 2025 edition” and the “management of rights” for subsequent editions, similar to the co-management by ECA and UEFA of European club competitions.