How Man City have denied Liverpool £150m windfall

Tom Weber

• Updated: 19 Jun 2023 17:23 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester City have denied Liverpool a chance to feature at FIFA's expanded Club World Cup - and thus also the chance for a huge payday.

Approved earlier this year and set to be launched in June 2025, the new tournament will see 32 of the best club sides of previous seasons compete against each other every four years. The UEFA Champions League winners from 2021 until 2024 qualify automatically for the inaugural event.

Additionally, eight European teams will enter the tournament by virtue of their UEFA coefficient, meaning that, even though Liverpool haven't won the Champions League since 2019, they could still have entered due to the fact that they currently rank fourth.

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Qualification would have given the Reds the chance to potentially claim prize money in the eye-watering region of £150 million (€176m), but Manchester City's Champions League victory has ruined Liverpool's hopes of competing at the new tournament.

Only two sides per country

That is because only two sides from the same country are allowed to qualify, unless, of course, another side win the Champions League. With City having won Europe's premier competition last term and Chelsea doing so in 2021, Liverpool have no chance of getting into the Club World Cup.

The Reds finished the domestic season just gone in a disappointing fifth and will thus only feature in the Europa League next term, giving them no chance to reclaim the Champions League before the scheduled start date of June 2025.

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Another English side could yet add to the Premier League's contingent, however. If Arsenal, Manchester United or Newcastle were to win the ultimate prize next season, they would get into the Club World Cup despite City and Chelsea already taking up England's two slots.

All in all, 12 European teams will feature at the new Club World Cup. They will be joined by six sides from CONMBOL - four of them being Copa Libertadores winners - and the previous four Champions League winners from Asia, Africa and North America, plus one club from the host country as well as the highest-ranked Champions League winner from the OFC.