Carlo Ancelotti admits Real Madrid are ready to boycott FIFA's newly expanded Club World Cup.
The revamped 32-team tournament, which will also include the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, is set to be played across a four-week period in the USA. It has a £600million-plus prize fund, but a host of leading figures are against it due to the demands it places on the players.
Real, who've just won the Champions League and remain Europe's most successful team, were among those expected to feature. Ancelotti though is not having it and maintains his team won't be the only outfit who say no to FIFA and their grand plans.
He told il Giornale : “FIFA forgets it, players and clubs will not participate in that tournament. A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million and FIFA wants to give us that amount for the entire cup. Negative. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation."
Ancelotti has since clarified that his comments were taken out of contest with Real putting out a club statement underlining their enthusiasm. Their manager said: "In my interview with Il Giornale, my words about the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted in the way I intended.
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"Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid.
It was reported by The Sun that leading figures were spearheading a boycott attempt with Premier League chief Richard Masters, PFA boss Maheta Molango and LaLiga supremo Javier Tebas leading it. FIFA have previously pushed back on fears over player welfare.
City chief Ferran Soriano has underlined the need to put players first. He said: "Like everything in life, it’s priorities. We have to decide what’s most important, starting with the health of the players. We have got into a spiral where everyone is defending each business and we can’t go on like this."
FIFA are standing by their new look tournament (Photo by Pakawich Damrongkiattisak - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)He also added: "Do they want to see an improved Champions League or the Club World Cup or a Nations League? We need a system that serves our fans without killing our players and we are far from that now."
PFA boss Molango agreed with that sentiment as he said: "Sometimes the calendar can seem like distant conversation. When you look at the schedule for next summer, the UEFA Champions League final is May 31 and Nations League is June 4-June 10, then go to the USA from June 14 to July 13, then AFCON, then August 17 you start the league. I don't know how do you do that?"
FIFA have refused to back down regarding their new look tournament, saying it was “fully within its rights” to set the parameters of the competition. The Club World Cup does have the backing of the European Club Association (ECA), but Real have not been members of that organisation since the formation of the European Super League in April 2021.
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