This week, as FIFA clarified the qualification formula, it emerged that Liverpool wouldn’t be taking part in the first edition of the expanded Club World Cup in the United States in 2025. Only three teams — Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid — are assured of their places right now as the last three Champions League winners.
This season’s winner, if it’s not City or Real once again, will join them, and then the remaining eight places will be determined by UEFA’s coefficient rankings. However, the 12 European spots are capped at two teams per country, and the only way to override that is by winning the Champions League. Liverpool didn’t qualify for this year’s tournament, so it has been locked out, while Manchester United won’t feature in the US either after finishing bottom of its group. Arsenal could still make it if it becomes European champion for the first time in 2023/24.
Owners FSG will no doubt be disappointed to see Liverpool miss out given the commercial opportunities associated with playing in their homeland, and the potential $63m (£50m/€58m) windfall (via The Guardian). Manager Jürgen Klopp, on the other hand, may be privately relieved that his players won’t be pushed to breaking point.
The winner of the 2025 Club World Cup will play an additional seven games as part of a season that will run until July 13. That’s almost exactly 11 months from the newly-announced start date of August 17 for the 2024/25 Premier League season. With the Champions League expanding too, an English club that reaches the final of the now four major cup competitions could theoretically play a staggering 74 matches over the course of the campaign (with two more matchdays added to the first phase of the Champions League, and a potential two-legged play-off before the round of 16 if a team finishes between ninth and 24th in the overall table). That, for reference, is 11 games more than Liverpool played in its marathon 2021/22 quadruple-chasing season.
The Reds then will have the advantage, compared to Chelsea, City and potentially Arsenal, of a summer off at the end of next season. But most of their players won’t get that luxury this year.
While Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Wataru Endō (Japan) will bid for glory at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup respectively next month, there are two more major international tournaments scheduled for the summer in the European Championships (due to be held in Germany from June 14 to July 14), and the Copa América (pencilled in for June 20 to July 14 in the US). Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England), Ibrahima Konaté (France), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Andy Robertson (Scotland), Alisson (Brazil), Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina), Luis Díaz (Colombia) and Darwin Núñez (Uruguay) are surefire inclusions in their national squads, while Kostas Tsimikas will feature with Greece if it comes through a play-off. Others, like Ryan Gravenberch, can still play their way into their country’s roster.
In short, almost all of Liverpool’s biggest stars will be on duty, and they will then be granted a three-week break following their exit from the tournaments, if history is anything to go by. Those who reached the semifinal or final may not return until early August, and while they should still have the best part of two weeks to prepare for the Premier League opener, it does mean that they’ll be out of sync with their teammates fitness-wise, denied the chance to gel with any new signings, and more at risk of fatigue later in the season.
Klopp may be grateful that Liverpool has been shut out of the Club World Cup, but the reality is that there won’t be much of a reprieve for his side. Such is the new reality given the nature of the modern football calendar.
