FIFA has confirmed new details of the extended Club World Cup, and also confirmed the number of spots that will be allocated to teams from the African continent for the new iteration of the tournament.
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The flagship club competition for world football's governing body is set to undergo a massive face-lift come 2025.
Prior to the semi-finals of this year's version, which is being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the FIFA Council met to take key decisions in relation to the first 32-team Club World Cup.
An official statement on their website reads: "The competition's official name will be Mundial de Clubes FIFA and will feature clubs from each of the six confederations.
"The Council unanimously confirmed the club ranking methodology to be used as part of the key principles of access, which were approved at the Council's meeting in March 2023.
"The first edition of the tournament will take place from 15 June to 13 July 2025.
"The format of the competition was confirmed as follows:
- A group stage composed of eight groups of four teams per group playing in a single-game round-robin format.
- The top two teams per group progressing to the round of 16
- A direct single-match knockout stage from the round of 16 to the final
- No third-place play-off
"The competition will therefore follow the same format as the FIFA World Cup 2022™ and the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™, with the exception that there will be no play-off for third place."
FIFA also confirmed how many teams from each of the participating confederations will be able to enter at the tournament, with CAF being allocated four slots.
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The last two winners of the CAF Champions League, Wydad Athletic Club and Al Ahly, have already been confirmed as entrants to the competition, so there are still two spots up for grabs. One will go to the winner of this year's Champions League , while the fourth spot will be determined via the ranking pathway.
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