Club World Cup destroys football models: Tebas

La Liga president Javier Tebas has kept up his criticism of the current Club World Cup, days after calling for the elimination of the expanded tournament which he claimed is "breaking the ecosystem" of club football.

- David Lee

Instead, he is not averse to the Fifa competition returning to its previous format as an annual competition - featuring just the winners of the six continental confederations and the host nation's league champions.

The Club World Cup in the United States is a quadrennial event that was enlarged to feature 32 teams and played over a month-long period after the end of the season.

Tebas told The Straits Times on June 23 that if the Club World Cup remained, he would "be happier if we can go back to the old model".

The 62-year-old Spaniard, who is in town for the La Liga Extra-time conference, said via a translator: "I strongly believe the Club World Cup destroys all established models of club competitions.

"It mainly affects the national leagues, but it obviously affects the Champions League as well because it affects the calendar and the players."

At a La Liga event in Madrid last week, when asked how Fifa could do a better job of structuring future Club World Cups, Tebas had said: "By eliminating it. My objective is that there will be no more Club World Cups, I'm very clear about that."

On June 23, he noted that the new format led to a congested calendar and can impact the physical and mental well-being of players.