Regardless of whether FIFA President Gianni Infantino's plan for a 32-team Club World Cup becomes a reality, "this year's tournament in Japan is likely to highlight the need for some sort of change," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. On paper, the idea of bringing together the champion club teams from each continent is "perfectly laudable." But in the last few years, "the tournament has served to highlight the huge gulf between the elite clubs of Europe, represented this year by Real Madrid, and those in the rest of the world." European teams have not conceded a goal between them since Corinthians beat Chelsea 1-0 in the final of the '12 tournament -- the only time since '06 that the tournament has produced a non-European winner. Rather than abolishing or shrinking the tournament, Infantino suggested that "it should be expanded to 32 teams and played in June," starting in '19. Infantino said, "The world has changed and that's why we need to make the Club World Cup more interesting. That's what we're trying to do, by creating a tournament that is much more attractive, with more quality among participants and more clubs. That will attract more sponsors and television companies from around the world." He did not expand on how FIFA would do that (REUTERS, 12/7).
