A few top teams will not be at this year’s Club World Cup in the United States.
Some of them include Barcelona, Arsenal and Liverpool.
The number of teams involved has been increased to 32 and there will be 63 fixtures in total.
With only two teams from each national association allowed, Manchester City and Chelsea will be England’s representatives.
Liverpool and Arsenal have missed out, because the main qualifying criteria is Champions League success.
Chelsea and City were invited, because they won the trophy in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
Real Madrid won it in 2022 and 2024. That meant the other nine of Europe’s 12 spots were determined by UEFA rankings.
That would have included 2022 runners-up Liverpool if City and Chelsea had not qualified by winning the tournament.
Paris Saint-Germain, who won the Champions League this year, qualified due to performances in the four-year cycle.
Europe’s other qualifiers via UEFA rankings are Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Benfica and Red Bull Salzburg.
Club World Cup 2025: Why Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona won’t play at tournament
