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Before telling the whole story, we must answer the question in the title: it is likely, but we cannot hold on. After all, FIFA doesn’t know. Conmebol doesn’t know either. And CBF doesn’t know.
The new Club World Cup has no date set to be held for the first time. And precisely for that reason, it has no defined classification criteria. Therefore, it is impossible to ensure the presence of Palmeiras (or Flamengo, champion of the Libertadores 2019) in its first edition.
In March 2019, FIFA announced the creation of its new Club World Cup, which will be played every four years by 24 teams.
The first edition would be in June 2021, and the new tournament would replace two others in the calendar, which were considered failures of criticism, public and technical quality: the Confederations Cup and the old (current, actually) Club World Cup, this one . from where Palmeiras was eliminated by Tigres.
FIFA’s idea was to host the first New Club World Cup in June 2021 in China. The coronavirus pandemic destroyed all plans.
First, the America’s Cup and the Euro, which would be played in June / July 2020, were postponed for a year. FIFA gave up the window on the 2021 calendar for the South American and European confederations to organize their national team tournaments. Thus, the New Club World Cup ran out of space.
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The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup is played in Qatar – Photo: Getty Images
Without a place in 2021, the World Cup could be delayed until 2022, but it is difficult for FIFA to agree to host a Club World Cup in the same year as a World Cup. THE The schedule will continue to be tight: there will be little space for matches between teams, to the point that the draw for the Cup groups will have to take place before the summaries are finalized. Also, the ECA (European Club Association) is sure to complain about excess games.
The FIFA president has already publicly admitted that the New Club World Cup may be finished by 2023. This lack of definition makes it very difficult to predict which classification criteria the continental confederations will choose to define their representatives.
Due to the current design of the tournament, Conmebol is entitled to six places. Who should go There are infinite possible combinations:
- The four most recent champions of the Libertadores (2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019), in addition to the two most recent champions of the South American (2022 and 2021)?
- What if there are repeat champions?
- And if a team wins both tournaments in that period, who would inherit the seats? Vices?
- Will the Conmebol ranking serve any purpose?
At the end of 2019, Conmebol began to work on the idea of developing a specific championship that would give two places to the New FIFA Club World Cup. The confederation’s plan was to send directly the two most recent champions from Libertadores and South America (which at that time would be 2020 and 2019) and reserve the two remaining seats for this new tournament, which would be contested by all the champions in the history of Liberators, obviously excluded those who already had a direct vacancy.
The idea of a Libertadores Super Cup generated an immediate reaction from CBF and AFA, because it would occupy the club calendar even more. The qualification criteria for the New FIFA Club World Cup would actually be discussed at the FIFA Council meetings to be held in March 2020 in Paraguay.
The outbreak of the pandemic, in addition to postponing the Euro and the America’s Cup, postponed this discussion. There is no way to debate the qualification criteria for a tournament that is not yet dated.
Palmeiras qualified for the 2020 World Cup by winning the Libertadores – Photo: Cesar Greco / Ag. Palmeiras
Within all this uncertainty, there is still a dispute between FIFA (which organizes the tournament) and Conmebol (which indicates its representatives): the continental entity wants the South American Cup to be a path to the New Club World Cup; while the Zurich-based entity prefers that all South American representatives come from the Copa Libertadores, which is the main tournament, which brings together more technical quality and commercial appeal.
THE give I heard sources from all entities, people who spoke on condition of anonymity because there is no official charge to reveal, and there are still many nodes to unleash in the presence of Palmeiras (or Flamengo) at the FIFA World Cup Novo.
There is a desire on the part of the managers involved that Palmeiras and Flamengo are in the first edition of the tournament. But it will only be possible to have that certainty when the tournament has a date, and when Conmebol and FIFA agree on the classification criteria.
At Palmeiras, the issue generates a natural expectation, but it is still treated with great caution. The diffuse panorama of the different sides makes the club wait for definitions about the tournament.
For the 2021 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, the current format of the competition will be repeated, with a single South American representative, the Libertadores champion, and the tournament will be played in Japan in December.
