LaLiga president Javier Tebas has launched an extraordinary tirade against the Club World Cup, declaring it his ‘goal’ to eliminate the competition.
The Spanish football chief claimed the revamped tournament is a threat to the ‘sustainability of football’ and he would ‘ensure there are no more Club World Cups’.
The expanded competition kicked off last weekend and has already come under fierce criticism for extending an already saturated footballing calendar.
While FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised there would be ‘full stadiums in America’ and that he had no concerns about ticket sales, the tournament has so far failed to fully capture the imagination of the American public, with swathes of empty seats at certain fixtures.
Chelsea’s opener against Los Angeles FC saw only 22,137 fans turn up at the 71,000 capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
General admission tickets were on sale for £38 but such was the lack of interest that the entire top tier of the stadium was closed.
The expanded competition kicked off last weekend but has seen low turnouts at some games
Real Madrid paid Liverpool £10m to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold before the Club World Cup
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has launched an extraordinary rant against the Club World Cup
Speaking at a LaLiga event, Tebas said: ‘My goal is to ensure there are no more Club World Cups, that’s very clear.’
Asked if improvements could be made for future editions, he said there were ‘no dates’ in the footballing calendar left and the competition should be ‘eliminated’.
‘There are no dates,’ the 62-year-old said. ‘There’s no need for yet another competition that moves money to a sector of clubs and players and comes from somewhere.
‘There’s no more money here; we have to maintain the ecosystem and eliminate it.
‘Keep it as it was before, which was a weekend. There’s no way, neither in terms of dates, nor economics, nor maintaining the sustainability of football.’
The LaLiga president admitted he had watched 25 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Los Angeles but criticised the fixture for looking like ‘a preseason friendly’, adding ‘I didn’t see any intensity’.
Chelsea’s opener saw only 22,137 fans turn up at the 71,000 capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Spanish sides Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are competing in the Club World Cup which takes place across the US and features 32 teams.
Previous iterations have included only seven teams and take place during the traditional footballing season.
Despite Tebas’ concerns, Xabi Alonso’s Los Blancos appear to be taking the tournament seriously and even paid Liverpool £10million to complete a transfer for Trent Alexander-Arnold in time for the competition.
Last week, Tebas also piled criticism on the Club World Club, branding it ‘absurd’ and claiming that FIFA had not ‘consulted us about anything’.
