PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 05: FIFA President, Gianni Infantino poses with Real Madrid President ... [+]
FIFA via Getty ImagesFIFA’s plans to expand the Club World Cup in 2021 could significantly change the soccer landscape, and already a new interest group has emerged: The World Football Club Association.
The newly formed association aims to be a platform for clubs from around the world to discuss issues with FIFA. Its first objective is to ensure that the Club World Cup works for its members.
The World Football Club Association (WFCA) is headed by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, but its eight founding members come from across the globe, and its vice-president is Moise Katumbi, president of Congolese side TP Mazembe, who reached the Club World Cup final in 2010. The other founders are South American giants River Plate and Boca Juniors, Mexico’s Club America, Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande, New Zealand’s Auckland City, and Italy’s AC Milan, and the WFCA is looking to expand and gain new members.
Paul Nicholson from Inside World Football claims that WFCA’s stated aim of making sure the Club World Cup will be where fans “can see the best teams playing the best football competing for the only worldwide club trophy” makes it sound somewhat like a FIFA lobby group. That FIFA boss Gianni Infantino appears to support the WFCA only adds to those suspicions.
Whether the WFCA’s interests align with FIFA’s or not, its inclusion of clubs outside Europe could set it on a collision course with the powerful European Club Association (ECA), which is headed by Juventus chairman Andreas Agnelli, and is opposed to the enlarged FIFA Club World Cup, and the expansion of FIFA-run competitions in general.
The ECA’s opposition to the Club World Cup could work in the WFCA’s favor, as many individual clubs like Manchester United, which were originally opposed to the expanded tournament, could start to see the benefits of competing in the Club World Cup.
Currently, the wealth of the UEFA Champions League gives a few European clubs all the money and power. If the WFCA gives sides outside Europe more of a say, then that would be a positive development. Perhaps over time, it will help readdress the inequalities that have led European sides to win 11 out of the past 12 Club World Cups, and South American sides to reach the final eight times in the past 12 years.
Infantino, in a statement supporting the WFCA, said he would like to see “40 or 50 clubs from different parts of the globe have the legitimate ambition to win the FIFA Club World Cup.”
Perez’s role as president may mean the WFCA’s views are still heavily aligned with European clubs, but as he appears to be against Real Madrid playing games outside of Spain, his position as president might allay some fears that the WFCA is a vehicle for a further enlargement of the Club World Cup, a global super league, or a push for more and more games played outside clubs’ home countries.
It’s hard to see whether the WFCA will have a real long-term impact on global soccer until it is clearer how many clubs want to join the association, but in the short term, at least it will give clubs more of a say in the revamped Club World Cup.
The details of the 2021 competition are still being ironed out, with questions over whether the host country or a team from Oceania should get a guaranteed place. The presence of Guangzhou Evergrande and Auckland City, these two regions’ most likely representatives in 2021, suggests that at least the World Club Football Association will listen to all clubs, rather than just the few giants at the top of the world game.
2019-11-19 12:34:29Z
https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveprice/2019/11/19/new-world-club-association-could-shake-up-soccers-club-politics/
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