Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has branded the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup 2025 as the ‘worst ever idea’ adding to the workload on the elite footballers. The FIFA Club World Cup, which used to be a seven-team tournament, has been revamped with a 32-team format from the ongoing edition. With the group stages done and dusted, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 gears up for the knockouts.
Klopp was the Liverpool manager when the Premier League giants won the tournament back in 2019. It was Liverpool’s first-ever FIFA Club World Cup title. However, Liverpool aren’t competing in the current edition due to complicated selection process with Manchester City and Chelsea representing the United Kingdom in the tournament.
Klopp stressed on the ‘serious fear’ over the lack of rest for the players at elite level. “The Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football in this regard,” Klopp told German outlet Welt.
“People who have never had anything to do with day-to-day business are coming up with ideas. I understand those who say: But there are insane sums of money for participation. But that’s not for every club.
Last year it was the Copa and the Euro, this year the Club World Cup, and next year the World Cup. That means no real recovery for the players involved, neither physically nor mentally. Of course, they all earn a lot of money. But let’s leave that aside for a moment,” he added.
Jurgen Klopp shares consequences
Klopp even cited Virgil van Dijk‘s example who hadn’t had at least off for four months in his entire career. “A player in the NBA who also earns a lot of money has four months off every year. Virgil van Dijk hasn’t even had that in his entire career.
“Tournaments like the Club World Cup can’t be played on the backs of the players. I don’t wish it on anyone, but I have a serious fear,” added the 58-year-old before stating the consequences for the next season.
“Perhaps not everyone has recognized the real problem yet, that next season players will suffer injuries they’ve never had before. If not this season, then it will happen at the World Cup or afterward. We constantly tell them to go into every game as if it were their last.
“We tell them that 70 or 75 times a year. But it can’t go on like this. We have to make sure they have breaks, because if they don’t get them, they won’t be able to deliver top performances in the long run – and if they can’t do that anymore, the entire product loses value for the sellers,” he said.
