Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City have all been stripped of a major title by FIFA.
All three teams watched on as Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to win the Club World Cup final last weekend.
Cole Palmer scored a brace in New Jersey, with Joao Pedro’s strike making it 3-0 before half-time and proving to be the final goal of the game.
Enzo Maresca’s side lifted the Club World Cup trophy for the first time, having lost in the final to Corinthians back in 2012.
This year’s Club World Cup was played under an entirely new format, with a group and knockout phase consisting of 32 teams from six confederations.
FIFA have now made a decision over how they recognise the new tournament – and it is bad news for United, Liverpool and City.
They have decided to recognise Chelsea as the ‘first-ever’ Club World Cup winners, meaning they are now the only club side who can be considered as ‘world champions’.
According to the Daily Mail, the above three English clubs – and all other previous winners – will now be known as ‘FIFA Intercontinental Champions’.
There is a similarly-named tournament known as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which sees each of the six teams that won their confederation’s continental cup compete in a mini-tournament in December.
That is, it must be added, different to the other FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which ran between 1970 and 2004 and was contested between the UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores winners.
The new Club World Cup brought with it a new trophy – though the trophy for the previous format also had the ‘Club World Cup’ title branded on it.
After all that, we’re left with something of a roll of honour that recognises just one world champion – and many more now-former world champions.
The Club World Cup is set to return in 2029, with PSG, Pyramids, Al Hilal and Cruz Azul already qualified after winning their continental championships last season.Featured Image Credit: Getty