MIAMI (AP) — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will kick off their controversial and criticized participation in the expanded Club World Cup against the Egyptian club Al Ahly on June 15, in the opening match of the tournament featuring 32 teams in its new format.
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The match will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium, located in northern Miami, and the draw held this Wednesday revealed that in Group A there will also be Palmeiras from Brazil and Porto from Portugal.
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Why is Inter Miami's participation controversial?
The idea of the new format, created by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, which has faced strong opposition from top figures in world football due to the increase in matches, is to bring together the 32 best teams from all continental confederations.
But in the case of Inter Miami, there is no sporting merit, as Infantino invited them simply for being the best team in the regular season of Major League Soccer in 2024. To add to the criticism, Messi's team was quickly eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
It is assumed that Messi’s presence and the fact that the first tournament match is in Miami influenced Infantino’s controversial decision.
"There is no controversy," said one of the owners of the Miami team, Jorge Mas.
“There is no rule that says the winner of the MLS Cup needs to be in the Club World Cup,” defended MLS commissioner Don Garber. “I am not interested in anything other than what I believe will be best for our league. I support the decision made by FIFA and am excited to put Miami and Seattle on a global media deal and have them showcased around the world.”
Mas said that Inter Miami's privilege of playing the inaugural match of the tournament at home is "a testimony of our community, of the soccer culture that exists here."
How will the new Club World Cup be played?
The tournament will be played in 11 cities in the United States and the final will be on July 13, at the MetLife Stadium in New York, the same venue that will host the final of the 2026 World Cup.
The club competition will have the traditional format of 32 teams used by the World Cup from 1998 to 2022. Eight groups of four teams each were drawn. The top two teams from each group will advance to the round of 16.
Europe has 12 spots, with Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Bayern Munich among them. South America will have six spots, including the Argentine teams River Plate and Boca Juniors.
Africa, Asia, and North America each have four representatives. Seattle Sounders is the other club in the United States league.
In the classification system, several limits were established, such as two teams per association via the ranking points system of the last four years, which prevented the participation of English Liverpool and Spanish Barcelona, for example.
These are the eight groups:
- Group A: Palmeiras, FC Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
- Group B: PSG, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders.
- Group C: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Boca Juniors, Auckland City.
- Group D: Flamengo, Chelsea, Leon, Esperance Sportive.
- Group E: River Plate, Inter Milan, Monterrey, Urawa Red Diamonds.
- Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD, Mamelodi Sundowns.
- Group G: Manchester City, Juventus, Wydad Casablanca, Al Ain.
- Group H: Real Madrid, Salzburg, Al Hilal, Pachuca.