FIFA is looking at expanding the format of the Club World Cup to include up to 32 teams, as they aim to revamp the tournament.
In its current guise, just seven teams participate in the competition: the league champions of the host country enter in a playoff round, where they face the winners of the OFC Champions League.
From there, the tournament progresses straight to the quarter-finals, where the winners of the Champions League tournaments from the various associations (CONCACAF, UEFA, CONMEBOL and AFC) play for a place in the final.
However, according to a report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FIFA is looking at the possibility of expanding the tournament to include 16 teams, and may increase that to as many as 32.
The already packed fixture list for the world's biggest football clubs would present a problem for FIFA if they hope to expand the size of the competition, as more teams would mean a lot more games.
The news comes in the wake of a shake-up to the Champions League that guaranteed four spots in the groups stages to the top four leagues, meaning they will supply half of the group stage participants for the tournament.
This year's Club World Cup will take place in December in Japan, where Real Madrid, Club America, Atletico Nacional and Auckland City are the confirmed participants to date, as winners of their regional Champions League competitions.
Via AS
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