Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has launched a scathing attack on the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup, branding it “the worst idea ever implemented in football” due to growing concerns over player welfare.
Now serving as Red Bull’s head of global football, Klopp’s criticism comes despite one of Red Bull’s teams, Salzburg, having taken part in this summer’s tournament in the United States. The Austrian club were eliminated in the group stage of what is the first Club World Cup to feature 32 teams and 48 matches.
Speaking to *Welt am Sonntag*, the German questioned the priorities behind the competition’s expansion: “It’s all about the game and not the surrounding events – and that’s why the Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football in this regard. People who have never had or do not have anything to do with day-to-day business anymore are coming up with something.”
Klopp, a long-time critic of fixture congestion, argued that players are being pushed to unsustainable limits. “There is insane money for participating, but it’s also not for every club,” he said. “Last year it was the Copa \[America] and the European Championship, this year it’s the Club World Cup, and next year the World Cup. That means no real recovery for the players involved, neither physically nor mentally.”
His comments come just days after global players’ union Fifpro released a report calling for players to be granted a minimum four-week off-season break. Fifpro has also filed a legal complaint with the European Commission against FIFA over what it described as the governing body’s “abuse of dominance”, citing the Club World Cup as a central concern.
Klopp added: “I have serious fears that players will suffer injuries they’ve never had before next season. If not next season, then it will happen at the World Cup or afterwards. We constantly expect the players to go into every game as if it were their last. We tell them that 70 or 75 times a year. But it can’t go on like this.”
His fears echo those of players. Manchester City midfielder Rodri warned in September – shortly before suffering an ACL injury – that players were “close to going on strike”, while team-mate Manuel Akanji even suggested he may have to retire at 30 due to the unrelenting demands of the calendar.
FIFA, however, has pushed back against such criticism. Senior sources told *BBC Sport* earlier this month that player welfare remains central to its planning, citing measures such as concussion substitutes, extra substitutions, and a player fund. They also dismissed the idea that the Club World Cup increases fixture congestion, noting it replaces the previous FIFA Confederations Cup and that a maximum of only seven matches will be played by two teams every four years.
Still, Klopp’s message remains clear: unless action is taken to protect players’ physical and mental wellbeing, the sport risks undermining its very foundations. “If they don’t get breaks, they won’t be able to deliver top performances,” he warned. “And if they can’t achieve that anymore, the entire product loses value.”