Arsene Wenger defends expanded FIFA Club World Cup

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·19 December 2023

Arsene Wenger defends expanded FIFA Club World Cup

Highlights

The FIFA Club World Cup will be expanded to a 32-team tournament in 2025, with two teams from each nation participating, raising concerns about player welfare.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, now FIFA's chief of global development, defends the expansion, citing improvements in player welfare, injury prevention, and advances in technology.
Wenger's change in stance contradicts his previous call for FIFA to reform the international calendar to prevent player overwork and potential split between clubs and international competitions.

The big news of late has been that the FIFA Club World Cup will be expanded into a 32-team tournament in 2025, with two teams from each nation being allowed to enter. With this change adding even more fixtures to an already crammed footballing calendar, it has understandably led to concerns over player welfare.

New format of FIFA Club World Cup

Two Premier League sides now involved

The new format will switch into more of a Champions League style of set-up, with a group stage composed of eight groups of four teams proceeding a series of knockout stages. There will be 12 European clubs – including two Premier League sides – six South American teams, four clubs from each of Asia, Africa and America, one team from Oceania and a final spot for a club from the host nation, which will be the USA.

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Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who is now FIFA’s chief of global development, has come out in defence of the Club World Cup expansion despite a general belief that it can and will increase the risk of player injuries. For instance, FIFPRO accused FIFA of

showing a “lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players”.

In response to this, As quoted by The Athletic, Wenger explained:

“I accept that the football calendar is a busy one, but this is a competition that is going to take place every four years and of course the rest period during the competition and afterwards has to be respected. “The welfare of the players in the last 20 years has increased dramatically as well, when you look at injury prevention, recovery work, nutrition and advances in medical technology. “It is unrecognisable from what it used to be. Also VAR has helped with the protection of players, as players know they cannot escape from making bad tackles that cause injury. So, overall, there has been huge improvements on the welfare side, and we want to continue with that progress.”

Wenger changes stance on player welfare

However, it seems as though the former Arsenal boss has somewhat contradicted his former stance on the whole situation. As pointed out on X by journalist Adam Crafton, Wenger had previously given an interview where he urged FIFA to reform the international calendar or else risk the consequences of neglecting players’ workloads.

This came while he was still in charge of the Gunners in 2015. He told Football 365: "We face a situation where it’s impossible for the players to get through a season and have rest.

“This kind of friction that it creates between the clubs, national teams and international competitions can create a split. One day the clubs could move away and say, ‘Enough is enough. We pay a huge amount of money for our best players so we’ll get them together ourselves and organise our own competitions'. It’s important that all of that gets on the table while we have the opportunity. It is now or never.”

Evidentally, since quitting management and taking a job for FIFA, Wenger has changed his stance on the matter and now believes that off-field improvements in the game (such as 'recovery work, nutrition'), as well as VAR, have suitably improved enough to help players handle the stress of playing even more games.

The first new-look Club World Cup will take place in the United States in 2025 and last essentially a whole summer month (when players should be using that time to recharge in between seasons), starting on June 15 and finishing on July 13.