FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has announced plans for a 32-team Club World Cup from 2025,.
An expansion of the competition has long been a pet project of Infantino’s.
A 24-team event, featuring eight sides from Europe, was planned for 2021 in China but was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Infantino said the new-look tournament would be even bigger than first planned.
“We had agreed a few years ago to have a new 24-team men’s Club World Cup,” the FIFA president said at the World Cup in Doha on Friday.
“It should have taken place in 2021 but was postponed because of Covid. The new competition will take place in 2025 and will feature 32 teams, making it really like a World Cup.”
Infantino also revealed that next year’s Club World Cup, in its current format, would take place in Morocco from February 1 to 11, 2023.
Morocco hosted the tournament in 2013 and again in 2014, while the most recent edition was held in the United Arab Emirates in February, with Chelsea lifting the trophy.
The 2023 tournament is set to continue in its existing format — up until now it has featured the six continental champions plus the top side from the host nation.