FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Why Is Messi Participating in CWC And Cristiano Ronaldo Is Not?

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With a new format, the FIFA Club World Cup is set to begin in July 2025. In this new format, 32 teams will be featured in this competition. Though Lionel Messi's Inter Miami will be present in that tournament, unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo will miss out on this opportunity.

However, it would not be the first opportunity for the legends to appear in this tournament. Ronaldo appeared at CWC eight times in the past and won it four times, while Messi also won the same three times. But it will be a chance for Messi to equalise the number of CWC titles with the Portuguese legend.

FIFA Club World Cup 2025: How Qualification Works In CWC? Why Is Al Nassr Not Playing in CWC?

In the revamped version of Club World Cup 2025, 32 teams are selected from six different federations. The qualification criteria depend on performances in the past four seasons of the federations' premier club competitions like UCL, Copa Libertadores, etc., and points will be granted based on the performances.

Asian Football Confederation has been allocated four spots in CWC, for the continental champions from 2021 to 2024. The winners of 2021 and 2022, Al Hilal and Urawa Red Diamonds, have qualified automatically.

But for the last two spots, there was competition among Jeonbuk, Ulsan and Al Nassr, which will be decided based on AFC club rankings and the winner of this season's AFC Champions League.

Al Nassr was knocked out from the AFC Champions League earlier this year against Al Ain in a penalty shootout and also failed to climb up to the 4-year AFC ranking. As a result, it will be heartbreak for the Ronaldo fans to see him probably for the last time to play against the greatest football teams across the world.

CWC 2025: How Lionel Messi's Inter Miami Is Allowed to Play in CWC 2025?

In a recent announcement by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, it has been cleared that Messi will be there at CWC 2025, as the winner of the MLS Supporter's Shield, which is given to the club with the best regular season record.

Among the 32 spots, there is a spot for the host nation. Inter Miami will occupy one of those and, as the fifth team from North America, will join the last four CONCACAF winners. Along with Lionel Messi, other big names like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alaba will also participate in CWC 2025 for Inter Miami.