Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has strongly criticised the expanded FIFA Club World Cup format, labelling it the “worst idea ever implemented in football” and warning of the severe toll it could take on player health.
FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup debuted in 2025, with clubs from across the globe participating in a World Cup-style format in the US.
While the governing body argues the tournament will bring greater global attention and commercial growth to the club game, critics including Klopp argue that player welfare is being sacrificed in favour of profit and spectacle.
In an interview published by German newspaper Die Welt on Friday, Klopp did not hold back in condemning the tournament’s structure, which will feature 32 teams and take place every four years during the summer pre-season, in between major international competitions.
“It’s a pointless competition. Whoever wins it will be the worst winner of all time because they’ll have played all summer and then gone straight back into the league,” Klopp said.
The German tactician, who stepped down as Liverpool manager in 2024 after nine years, expressed concern over the growing demands placed on footballers by increasingly congested calendars.
“There are people who have never been involved in the day-to-day business of football and are now coming up with ideas.
It’s too many games. I fear that next season we will see injuries like never before.
If not then, they’ll come during or after the Club World Cup. There’s no real recovery for those involved, neither physically nor mentally,” he added.
