La Liga president Javier Tebas sees no logic in holding a large-scale Club World Cup and believes the tournament should be removed from the football calendar.
Tebas has been critical of the new format of the Club World Cup for some time. Last week, he called the competition “completely illogical.”
After watching about 25 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Los Angeles FC on Monday, Tebas said the match felt more like a friendly.
Asked how FIFA could improve future editions of the Club World Cup during an event in Madrid on Tuesday, Tebas replied bluntly: “By removing it.”
“My aim is that there should be no more Club World Cups. I’m very clear about that. There’s no place for it. This model disrupts the domestic leagues’ atmosphere, especially in Europe,” he explained.
Tebas, 62, believes the Club World Cup should be held as it was before.
“We need to maintain the environment we have and scrap this version. It should be like before when the tournament was basically played over one week.”
When asked if he had watched any matches in the current tournament, Tebas said: “I watched some of Chelsea’s match, and it felt like a preseason friendly. I didn’t see any intensity, at least in the 25 minutes I watched.”
The attendance at the match in Atlanta’s 71,000-capacity stadium was just 22,137, leaving nearly 50,000 seats empty. Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca commented on the sparse crowd: “I think the atmosphere was a bit strange, the stadium wasn’t full, it wasn’t packed.”
This is the first time the Club World Cup features 32 teams. The month-long tournament in the United States began last Saturday and will conclude with the final on July 13.
Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are participating this time. The tournament is scheduled to take place every four years.
