According to the Spanish press, Real Madrid and a group of European and South American clubs have proposed that FIFA organize the Club World Cup on a 2-year cycle instead of a 4-year one as currently planned.
According to the revelation, this idea was quietly raised by the team's leaders during the tournament in the US, although no official document has been sent to FIFA.
At the 2025 Club World Cup, FIFA spent a total of about 1 billion USD in bonuses for participating teams. Champions Chelsea earned up to 114.6 million USD, while Real Madrid received 82.5 million USD despite only reaching the semi-finals. For many teams, this tournament brings in a large amount of revenue and if it is held more regularly, the financial potential is much greater.
However, information from the European media said that FIFA had rejected this proposal. They consider organizing the Club World Cup every two years to be impossible at the present time. The reason lies in the overlap with the already tight schedule as well as concerns about conflicts with UEFA - the unit operating the Champions League, EURO and other continental tournaments.
In addition, FIFA is not sure that it can raise $1 billion in a regular budget every 2 years to maintain the current tournament scale.
For its part, FIFA is looking forward to the next Club World Cup in 2029. Qatar is one of the leading candidates chosen as host thanks to its existing infrastructure and experience in organizing the 2022 World Cup.
Previously, former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti caused controversy when he announced that his team would not participate if FIFA only paid 20 million euros for the entire tournament. La Liga president Rafael Tebas has also repeatedly criticized FIFA's expansion plans, saying that football is being pushed to the brink of exhaustion due to commercial ambitions.
