FIFA have stripped a further eight clubs of a major title amid their decision over Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Earlier this month, Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 to win the 2025 Club World Cup title.
Although the Club World Cup had previously been held annually since 2005, FIFA made the decision to officially pronounce Chelsea as the first-ever ‘world champions’.
According to the Daily Mail, former Club World Cup winners Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City will all now be referred to as ‘FIFA Intercontinental Champions’.
That is a differentiation from the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, a newly-introduced rebrand of a tournament by the same name which sees each of the six teams that won their confederation’s continental cup compete in a mini-tournament.
Chelsea are not guaranteed to defend their title at the next Club World Cup in 2029, as the tournament’s holders do not yet receive automatic qualification.
Liverpool, United and City will all hope to meet the qualifying criteria over the next three years and effectively ‘win back’ their title of world champions.
Liverpool won the Club World Cup in 2019, while City were the final winners under the previous format in 2023.
United, meanwhile, lifted the trophy in 2008. All three sides had won the Champions League earlier in the year of their success.
And seven other clubs are now no longer recognised as champions of the footballing world.
Real Madrid are five-time winners of the Club World Cup under its previous format, but will now have to win it under its new format. They are, however, still the reigning champions of the Intercontinental Cup.
nullReal Madrid won the Club World Cup for the fifth time in 2022 (Image: Getty)
Three-time winners Barcelona are also affected, as well as two-time winners Bayern Munich and Corinthians.
Finally, Sao Paulo (2005 winners), Internacional (2006), AC Milan (2007) and Inter Milan (2010) are the other teams that can no longer call themselves world champions.
PSG, Pyramids, Al Hilal and Cruz Azul are the teams already confirmed for the 2029 Club World Cup – but all the above teams can still qualify alongside them by winning continental titles or by meeting specific club ranking criteria set by FIFA.Featured Image Credit: Getty