By Graham Dunbar
FIFA will judge any disputes between Club World Cup teams who each want to take the same player to the tournament in the United States next year, according to tournament rules published on Tuesday.
Scheduling a club event that straddles the June 30 date when player contracts typically expire — as Kylian Mbappé’s did when moving in July as a free agent to Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain — has pushed FIFA to find solutions for new transfer issues.
The 32-team Club World Cup is played from June 15-July 13 and potential free agents at qualified teams include Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, Bayern Munich trio Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and Leroy Sané, Inter Milan defender Denzel Dumfries and Madrid’s Ferland Mendy.
“Should two clubs wish to include the same player on their respective provisional list, the FIFA general secretariat shall decide for which club the player may be listed, after hearing all concerned parties,” the world soccer body’s tournament rules state.
Club World Cup rules say players must be on a team’s provisional list approved by FIFA before they can be selected in the final squad for the tournament. Madrid and PSG are among the 12 teams from Europe.
Pending free agents can officially start talks in January with other clubs and reach agreements to sign for them next season.
However, the June 15 start of the Club World Cup is technically still this season and FIFA has given member federations the option of opening an exceptional transfer window from June 1-10 to push deals through.
It means players in Europe could play for one team in the Champions League final on May 31 and for a different team 15 days later at the Club World Cup.
FIFA also will let Club World Cup teams change their squad list mid-tournament, from June 27-July 3 to “replace players whose contracts have naturally expired.”
However, players can represent only one team at the Club World Cup and would not be eligible to transfer and play for another in the second half of the tournament.
FIFA has faced issues with its long-term plan to relaunch the Club World Cup as a month-long tournament played every four years and paying elite teams tens of millions of dollars in prize money.
The tournament still has no broadcast deal, just one sponsor — though FIFA has promised others, likely from Saudi Arabia, will soon be announced — and is the subject of a formal complaint to the European Commission in Brussels by players unions and domestic leagues about how it was added to the congested global soccer calendar.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti suggested in June his storied club might be ready to boycott FIFA’s invitation though the European champion walked back that claim.
Any team that formally signs up for the Club World Cup then withdraws will be fined “at least 250,000 Swiss francs” ($290,000), FIFA rules said on Tuesday, if the decision is made at least 30 days before the first game. Any withdrawal after mid-May will get a fine of “at least 500,000 Swiss francs” ($580,000).
FIFA has yet to confirm tournament prize money or details of the tournament draw, which is expected early in December.
The 32nd and last entry, from South America, will be decided on Nov. 30 by the Copa Libertadores final between Brazilian teams Atlético Mineiro and Botafogo in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Teams qualified by winning a continental club championship from 2020 to 2024, or were ranked highly by consistently good results in competitions. Countries were limited to two entries unless they had more than two title winners. Brazil will have four teams in the U.S. and Mexico will have three.
FIFA added Lionel Messi’s club Inter Miami to the lineup last month to represent the host nation based on its regular-season record, rather than wait for the MLS Cup final on Dec. 7. Inter Miami will play in the opening game at the Miami Dolphins stadium.
Tournament rules confirmed there will be no third-place game, and player suspensions for red cards will not carry over to any other competition, such as a domestic league game in August.
AP
