Next year’s Club World Cup is the debut of the new format, and there have already been major issues.
There’s been a struggle to sort the venues in the United States out, worries about the pitches, terrible pricing leading to low interest in tickets, and even difficulties finding broadcasters at the crazy prices FIFA have set.
There are also question marks about the format – Chelsea’s presence on the back of their 2021 Champions League win being a prime example.
But it’s going ahead, and we’re sure we’ll enjoy it when it comes around next year at the end of the season.
Chelsea will send their first team squad, although given it will be at the end of a gruelling season, it’s anyone’s guess who actually ends up playing.
One person who will be present is Kendry Paez, the Ecuadorian wonderkid signed and loaned back to his current team until next summer, when he’s 18 and can come to join Chelsea.
According to Edu Burgos, a top insider in South American football, the wonderkid will be registered for Chelsea in that tournament and is likely to debut for the Blues in the US.
The window for registering players for the CWC is open between the 1st and the 10th of June, so if we want to, we can pick him. He might even already have spent some time at Cobham by then, adapting to his new surroundings.
Kendry Páez será inscrito para el Mundial de Clubes con el Chelsea.
Hay más dudas con Estevão. Palmeiras quiere retenerle hasta después del evento.
La FIFA abrió la posibilidad de inscribir a jugadores del 1 al 10 de junio de 2025 solo a los equipos que jugarán el torneo. pic.twitter.com/f5IRJSJBLG
— Eduardo Burgos (@edu17burgos) October 3, 2024
Another wonderkid misses out
However Burgos casts doubt on the idea that Estevao Willian, our other teenage South American set to join us next summer could also be on the tour. Palmeiras want to keep him through that period, and given he will be competing competitively, it feels likely that we let him get on with it.
He will have the rest of the summer to arrive in Europe and start getting to work with Chelsea
