Why won't Yamal, Ronaldo, and Salah play in the Club World Cup?

The new FIFA Club World Cup, featuring 32 teams, will kick off in the United States on 14 June and continue until the final on 13 July.

The expansion of the Club World Cup to 32 teams enables more sides to compete against some of the biggest names in world club football. The best European clubs will be there, such as Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. They will face the elite of South American football, including clubs like River Plate, Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo.

Among the 32, you'll also find the best clubs from outside Europe and South America. However, there will be no appearance from All Nassr, the club of Cristiano Ronaldo.
In terms of star players, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland are expected to take part in the tournament, but fans won't get the chance to see several of the top players from the 2024-25 season, such as Mohamed Salah from Liverpool, or the prodigy Lamine Yamal, who won three trophies this year with FC Barcelona.

The selection of teams has been made even more confusing by FIFA's decision to award a host nation's spot to Inter Miami, and not to invite Liverpool, Barcelona, or Napoli to the tournament, even though all three have recently been crowned champions in three of Europe's most prestigious leagues.

(MH with MaSi – Source: Tagtik – Photo: © Unsplash)