FIFA Club World Cup 2025 key principles of access announced

The FIFA Council met in advance of the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, and adopted several key decisions.

FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ – key principles of access list

Following on from the approval of the slot allocation for the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup™ that will be played every four years as of June 2025, the FIFA Council unanimously approved the key principles of access with the aim of ensuring the highest quality possible based on sporting criteria.

With a period of consideration being the four-year period of the seasons ending in 2021 and 2024, the key principles of access are as follows:

For confederations with more than four slots: access for the champions of the previous four editions of the confederation’s premier club competition, and additional teams to be determined by a club ranking based on the same four-year period
For confederations with four slots: access for the champions of the previous four editions of the confederation’s premier club competition
For confederations with one slot: access for the highest ranked club between the champions of the confederation’s premier club competition in the four-year period
For the host country: access for the club occupying this slot will be determined at a later stage

Other criteria also apply:
In the event of a club winning two or more editions of the confederation’s premier club competition during the 2021-2024 period, a club ranking calculated based on sporting criteria will be used to grant access
A cap of two clubs per country will be applied to the access list with an exception in case more than two clubs from the same country win the confederation’s premier club competition over the four-year period
Further consultation will follow with confederations and stakeholders to define the calculation mechanisms of the club ranking, which will be based on sporting criteria