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Cloak-and-dagger games continue to cloud Fifa's Club World Cup
The Straits Times
|June 01, 2025
As European footballers take their post-season vacations, with the continent's southern beaches providing mental and physical havens, there comes the realisation that the club game will go global this summer.
Looming on June 14 is the Club World Cup's opener between Egypt's Al Ahly and Inter Miami of the United States as Africa takes on North America.
By little coincidence, the latter team feature Lionel Messi, who celebrates his 38th birthday during Fifa's new month-long showpiece.
Messi's presence came via spurious means, his club granted entry after winning the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) Supporters' Shield - awarded to the team with the best overall record during the regular season.
That Miami bombed out of the subsequent play-offs and eventual MLS champions Los Angeles Galaxy will be absent is just one wrinkle in the make-up of the 32-team Club World Cup.
Red Bull Salzburg, 34th in this season's 36-team Champions League, winning just a single match, take their place by virtue of a complicated coefficient which restricted countries to two entries.
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