October 21 – No Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan or Arsenal, not even Atletico Madrid. The Club World Cup is without five of the biggest and most supported clubs in the world. But it does now have Lionel Messi… and his five-season-old club Inter Miami.
You could almost hear the sigh of relief on the other side of Atlantic from FIFA’s new Miami offices as Messi inked his spot in FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s shiny new club tournament, a cornerstone of his FIFA competition (and commercial) expansion plan.
It is an expansion that is being contested in Europe with players’ unions and the European Leagues and World Leagues associations saying that it should be cancelled in favour of more discussion with stakeholders. Infantino has consistently refused to entertain their protests or meet their representatives on the issue.
Meanwhile FIFA is hyping the event in the US even though it has been slow to find significant commercial support in the local market. But in a political game of smoke and mirrors, FIFA is charging ahead with adjectives blazing.
Inter Miami have qualified by winning the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield – basically the league title but the MLS peculiarly, and somewhat sycophantically, call it something else.
Infantino was so excited at having Messi at his tournament that he declared Inter Miami will open the Club World Cup in June 2025 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Opposition to be drawn in December.
Messi is a well-behaved outlier when it comes to the inaugural edition of the Club World Cup. While the world’s leading players and their union in Europe talk about burn-out, fatigue, too many matches and too much travel and striking, Messi (who struggled in his final seasons in Europe with exactly that) has kept his mouth shut and will be putting his goody-two shoes forward as FIFA’s feel-good stooge.
Messi – who played about 35 minutes and scored three times on Saturday as Inter Miami thumped the New…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/10/21/fifa-raptures-messi-team-qualify-unloved-club-world-cup/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-10-21 00:41:03
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