Five key Club World Cup questions for Chelsea and Man City after Premier League fixture blow

The prospect of the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) causing problems for English domestic football reared its head again when the Premier League’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, said Chelsea and Manchester City would not get any special treatment when next season’s fixture list is compiled. The 32-team tournament starts in four months’ time and has been widely criticised by players’ unions and some national associations.

So, what will be the ramifications of this new month-long event and how come Chelsea and City are taking part? Here, chief sports writer Andy Dunn answers your key questions. Right, it is a 32-team competition that will feature four clubs from the Asian Football Confederation, four from the Confederation of African Football, four from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, six from CONMEBOL (South America), one from the Oceania Football Confederation and 12 from UEFA, plus the ‘host’ club, Inter Miami. There are eight groups of four, the top two from each group going through to the round of 16.

The first game of the tournament will see Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami take on Al Ahly on June 14 in Miami. The last game will be the final on July 13 at the New York Giants’ stadium in New Jersey. It is a good question. After all, Chelsea have not been Premier League champions since 2016-17 while City will not be arriving in the United States as Premier League champions. But they were selected on the basis that they were Champions League winners within the past four years.

Real Madrid also qualified on that basis, having won the Champions League twice in that period. The remaining nine European teams to qualify were determined by their UEFA ranking over the same four-year period. That meant Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Red Bull Salzburg were all given a spot. The new-look tournament is the pet project of Gianni Infantino and the FIFA president has been on a glad-handing mini-tour of Premier League clubs in recent weeks. Make no mistake, this is a competition that the respective owners of Chelsea and Manchester City will be desperate to do well in, given its location and its global appeal.

They will see huge commercial opportunities in relatively untapped markets in the States and beyond. Plus, the prize money is fantastic. Chelsea and City are getting over £40million just to take part and, while not confirmed, the suggestion is that the winning team will pocket close to £100million. When it comes to coping with PSR, that helps a lot. At 44, Maresca is at the stage of his managerial career where he will treat this as an opportunity to showcase his talent. This would be a nice thing to have on his CV. Plus, with a big roster, he will have few worries about having insufficient playing numbers. But Guardiola will not want to be there. With each bad result this season, there is an increasing number of people who believe Pep has been found out.

He will know the only way to prove them wrong will be to mount a serious Premier League challenge next season. But the Premier League’s decision not to allow City or Chelsea to delay their start to the 2025/26 season means his plans for the next campaign - which begins on August 16 - are already being undermined. In the grand scheme of things, this is a tournament Pep could do without. The one thing that is for certain about this competition is that there will be some teams and managers treating it more seriously than other teams and managers. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti made it clear that he would rather not be there, before being rebuked by his employers. But the first NINE in the bookmakers’ odds are European teams with, almost laughably, Manchester City the joint favourites with Real.

You can rest assured the winners will not come from the Asian, African, North American or Oceanic federations but Europe will face strong competition from the South American teams, most notably the four from Brazil. And don’t be surprised if Palmeiras cause a shock and go all the way. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.