FIFA Modifies Transfer Policy for Club World Cup, Allows New Signings for 2025 Event

FIFA, which oversees international football, has permitted up to two new players to register for the men’s Club World Cup in 2025 if their contracts are to expire by the end of the month; however, it forbids a player from playing for two separate clubs during the competition hosted by the United States.

Photo: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (screenshot youtube.com/@fifa)

FIFA has earlier approved the revised rules for the historic Club World Cup, which will take place in the summer of 2025. As FIFA attempts to address concerns about the crowded schedule for players and the introduction of a new competition during a summer without European Championship or World Cup fixtures, the format (32 teams will be split into eight groups of four teams, with the top two teams in each group qualifying to the knockout stage) introduces a number of important rules for the competition, which will be held in the United States from June 15 to July 13 of next year.

The primary goal of FIFA’s agreed-upon interim transfer regulations is to facilitate players’ side switching and Club World Cup participation. Players whose contracts expire on June 30, 2025, can sign as free agents with any of the 32 teams that made it to the revamped FIFA club championship thanks to this move. Interim transfer market regulations that allow member federations to establish an extraordinary transfer window from June 1–10 were approved by FIFA’s council.

The FIFA transfer modifications would allow players to play for a new team for two weeks starting in mid-June, before their official contract expires, in a tournament that’s technically still part of the current season, provided that teams agree.

Kylian Mbappé’s impending free agency on June 30 would have made it more difficult for him to travel to the United States, either as a PSG or Madrid player, if the Club World Cup had been held this year. Players with expiring contracts may sign a two-week extension to the end of the June 15–July 13 event as part of FIFA’s efforts to help bring players to the Club World Cup.

What If Two Teams Aim to Select Same Player?

As per the tournament regulations, FIFA will arbitrate any conflicts between Club World Cup teams who wish to send the same player to the competition in the US the following year. According to the tournament rules of the world football organization, if two clubs want to put the same player on their separate provisional lists, the FIFA general secretariat will determine which club the player can be listed for after consulting with all parties involved.

According to Club World Cup regulations, players can’t be chosen for the tournament’s final roster until they are on a team’s FIFA-approved provisional list.

FIFA Wants Best Players at Club World Cup

FIFA has chosen to allow broad squad convocations with a minimum of 26 and a maximum of 35 players in response to player complaints and claims about scheduling overload. The goal of this action is to make sure that teams give the tournament the status they want, rather than treating it like just another summer preseason game. By implementing this stipulation in the tournament structure, they hope to avoid a parade of young academy proteges from Europe’s top teams. They encourage eligible teams to field their finest players by enacting this clause.

The long-standing regulation that clubs must release players to national service for games and tournaments on dates covered by the international games calendar was waived by FIFA. This impacts players from the United States and Mexico (five CONCACAF teams will take part in the Club World Cup; one of them, Inter Miami, is the favorite No. 8 to win the tournament as expressed by the current odds of the best football gambling sites) who may have been selected for the 2025 Gold Cup, which will also take place in the United States from June 14–July 6.