For once, Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti do not agree. A few hours after the Italian coach announced that his team would “reject the invitation” from Fifa and “not participate” in the Club World Cup organized by the body in the summer of 2025, the Madrid club communicated in the reverse direction this Monday afternoon.
“Real Madrid CF announces that at no time has its participation in the new Club World Cup organized by Fifa for the next 2024/2025 season been called into question,” we can read in a press release published on the Merengues website. Our club will therefore participate, as planned, in this official competition which we will compete with pride and with the greatest enthusiasm to make our millions of fans around the world dream once again with a new title. »
Ancelotti backtracked
However, an interview with Carlo Ancelotti published in the morning in the columns of the Italian daily the newspaper suggested the opposite. The technician, winner of his third Champions League on the Real bench at the beginning of June, believed that the prize money allocated by Fifa to the teams participating in the tournament was not significant enough.
“Fifa forgets it, players and clubs will not participate in this tournament,” he declared. A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million and Fifa wants to give us this sum for the entire cup. Negative. Like us, other clubs will reject the invitation. »
Comments on which Ancelotti returned during the afternoon on his X account: “In my interview with Il Giornale, my comments on the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted as I I heard, wrote the 65-year-old coach. Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of participating in a tournament that I consider an excellent opportunity to continue fighting for great titles with Real Madrid. »
In my interview with Il Giornale, my words about the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted in the way I intended. Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity for…
— Carlo Ancelotti (@MrAncelotti) June 10, 2024
As a reminder, the Club World Cup, a competition which until now brought together the six continental champions, will have a new look from 2025. From now on, the participating clubs will number 32, including twelve European teams, including the Real, therefore, but also Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and even Bayern Munich.
Scheduled for June 15 to July 13, 2025, this competition is strongly criticized by FIFPro, the global union of professional players, which threatened to initiate proceedings if Fifa did not review its calendar. As a reminder, the new version of the Club World Cup has already had consequences on the African Cup of Nations, forced to postpone its 2025 edition to the winter of 2026.
