REAL MADRID WILL refuse to play in Fifa’s expanded Club World Cup next summer, their coach Carlo Ancelotti has said.
Real have already qualified for the 32-team event in the United States by virtue of winning the 2022 Champions League, a competition they won for a 15th time earlier this month.
However, Ancelotti has cast doubt on their involvement.
“Players and clubs will not participate in that tournament,” Ancelotti told Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
“A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million (euros) and FIFA wants to give us that amount for the entire cup.
“Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.”
The World Leagues Association – which includes the Premier League as a member – and world players’ union Fifpro last month threatened Fifa with legal action unless the Club World Cup is rescheduled.
They said in a letter to Fifa that the scheduling of the competition would cause “economic harm” to domestic leagues and would push players “beyond their limits”.
Fifa has refused to back down, saying it was “fully within its rights” to set the parameters of the competition.
The Club World Cup does have the backing of the European Club Association (ECA), but Real have not been members of that organisation since the ill-fated formation of the European Super League in April 2021.
Meanwhile, three fans who racially abused Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr during a match in Valencia last year have each been sentenced to eight months in prison, La Liga has announced.
The league said the conviction of the trio over an incident at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium on 21 May, 2023 was the first for racist abuse at a football match in Spain.
The individuals have also been given a two-year stadium ban from any venue hosting La Liga matches, or games held under the jurisdiction of the Spanish football federation (RFEF).
La Liga said Valencia had co-operated with the investigation and had expelled the three people as members of the club.
A letter of apology to Vinicius from the defendants was read out during the hearing, La Liga said.
“This ruling is great news for the fight against racism in Spain, as it goes some way to redressing the disgraceful wrong suffered by Vinicius Jr and sends a clear message to those individuals who go to a football stadium to hurl abuse,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said.
“La Liga will identify them, report them, and there will be criminal consequences.
“I understand that there may be some frustration at the length of time it takes for these sentences to be handed down, but this shows that Spain is a country that guarantees judicial integrity. We at La Liga can only respect the pace of justice, but once again we demand that Spanish legislation evolve to give La Liga sanctioning powers that can speed up the fight against racism.”
Currently, La Liga can only bring the facts of a case to the relevant legal authorities, and is unable to sanction clubs, fans or players for hateful conduct, racism or violent acts itself.
