Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has labelled the expanded Club World Cup the “worst idea ever implemented in football” due to its impact on player workload and recovery time.
Klopp, a long-term critic of the ever-expanding football calendar who is now working as head of global soccer for Red Bull, feels the timing and duration of the tournament in its new format heighten the risk of burnout and injuries for players.
“In the end, it’s all about the game and not the surrounding aspects – and that’s why the Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football in this regard,” he told Welt in Germany.
“People who have never had anything to do with day-to-day business or who no longer have anything to do with it come up with something.”
He added: “Last year we had the Copa America and European Championship, this year the Club World Cup and next year then the World Cup.
“This means no real recovery for the players who are there, neither physically nor mentally.
“An NBA player, who also earns a big salary, has a four-month break every year. This is what (Liverpool defender) Virgil van Dijk got in his entire career.”
This year’s Club World Cup, which is taking place in the United States, began on June 14, three weeks after the end of the Premier League season, and concludes on July 13, four weeks before the start of the new top-flight campaign.
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Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol gives his verdict following Manchester City’s convincing win over Juventus at the Club World Cup
The competition features representatives from across the world, including Manchester City and Chelsea this year, and is due to be held every four years.
Before the start of this year’s tournament, FIFPro, the representative organisation of global player unions, recommended a mandatory four-week off-season break for players to ease calendar congestion and protect player welfare.
Is Klopp’s comment fair? Kaveh hits back!
Analysis by Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
Jurgen Klopp does have a very valid point, a point a lot of people in football agree with.
But there is another side to the story, and that is that this Club World Cup has not been set up for the benefit of Jurgen Klopp or the big European clubs; it has been set up for the benefit of clubs from all around the world.
If you speak to people from those clubs, they love this tournament, because they don’t like their best players having to leave for Europe to play in the Champions League.
They have been asking FIFA to set up a competition which is the equivalent of the Champions League but for clubs all around the world and that is what they have done.
If it wasn’t for the Club World Cup, a lot of these big European clubs would be going on big pre-season tours anyway. How many times have we seen Liverpool flying off to the US or the Far East?
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Sky Sports chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol looks ahead to the Club World Cup round of 16 game between Benfica and Chelsea
That is what clubs do. Football seems to have turned into a 365-day-a-year sport. Jurgen Klopp is unhappy about it but I don’t see what can be done about the fact that we are where we are.
Also, don’t forget, these modern European sides have big, big squads. Manchester City have brought around 35 players and they seem to be enjoying it. I think it’s been a very useful activity for them because they’ve been able to bed in new signings and new coaches.
At the end of the day, whoever wins this can make around £100m and that is a massive deal for clubs in the era of PSR and FFP.
Finally, I would say to Jurgen Klopp, is it really the worst idea ever implemented in football? Is it worse than Liverpool being one of the clubs who tried to set up a European Super League? Is it worse than VAR, for instance? I’m not so sure.
Yes of course, Jurgen Klopp has a point. But my personal opinion is that football doesn’t belong to the big clubs in Western Europe. It belongs to the whole world. And the rest of the world is enjoying this tournament much more than Jurgen Klopp.
