Real Madrid vowed today to compete in the enlarged Club World Cup next summer “with the utmost enthusiasm,” following reports in the Italian media that head coach Carlo Ancelotti had stated the Spanish team would not be participating.
Real Madrid won the 2022 Champions League, becoming the 15th European club champions earlier this month. This earned them a spot in the 32-team competition in the United States.
Ancelotti said on social media today that his comments “were not interpreted in the way he intended” after being cited as saying to the Italian publication Il Giornale that Real would decline an invitation to play.
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“Real Madrid informs that at no point has its participation in the new Club World Cup, to be organized by Fifa in the following 2024–25 season, been questioned,” the club stated in a statement.
Last month, Fifa received threats of legal action from the international Leagues Association and the international players’ union, Fifpro, unless the Club World Cup was delayed, reports Morning Star.
They claimed in a letter to Fifa that the competition’s schedule would push players “beyond their limits” and create “economic harm” to local leagues.
Refusing to back down, FIFA asserted that it was “fully within its rights” to establish the competition’s rules.
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