A general view inside the venue as Manchester City is drawn during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Draw at Telemundo Studios in Miami, Florida
Manchester City are in Club World Cup action next summer
Pep Guardiola has bemoaned this season's fixture schedule more than once. Star midfielder Rodri suggested players might even strike over the number of games before injury ended his campaign early. City's autumn wobble has raised the prospect of two play-off ties in the Champions League adding further matches to an already crowded schedule.
And Thursday night brought about the draw for next summer's expanded Club World Cup, now a 32-team FIFA juggernaut with a minimum of three matches and the possibility of seven. City are out of the Carabao Cup after just two games but played in the Community Shield and face the very real prospect of a 70-game campaign on the back of a European Championship where four of their players started in the final. Before being asked to do it all over again next season with precious little time to rest and recuperate.
It's a nonsense schedule and one that prompted Guardiola to muse over the possibility of a delayed start to the 2025-26 Premier League campaign for City and Chelsea - who are also competing next summer, a request that fell on deaf ears.
ALSO READ: FIFA Club World Cup draw in full as Man City paired with Juventus
ALSO READ: Fresh Kevin De Bruyne contract development shows what Man City really think of returning star
In a bid to manage minutes, workload and injuries, City and Guardiola could look to rotate heavily for a tournament that includes matches against sides from Dubai and Morocco in the group stage along with Juventus. But FIFA, having invested so much in a competition that has been much derided in Europe if not elsewhere in the world, have confirmed they will block attempts from clubs to leave players at home.
Instead, FIFA has allowed participating clubs to open their transfer window from June 1, with it shutting on June 10, to allow clubs to sign new players to play in the tournament. It remains unclear how FIFA will police teams from fielding weaker squads and that is something that Guardiola has already publicly queried and criticised.
Speaking earlier this season, the City chief said: “What is the strongest players? Which ones? FIFA will tell me for them which players are stronger than the other ones? I don’t understand that.
“We will go all the squad there,” he continued, referring to Manchester City’s plans for the Club World Cup next year. “We don’t go for one game, right? So I don’t know who is the competition itself right now, but we’re not going with 11 players, we’re going with the whole squad.
“I don’t understand how the selection of players is ‘stronger’ than other ones? I know! Stronger means in-form, and maybe the strongest for them is in really, really, really bad conditions! For many reasons; personal, physical, injuries, niggles, and we’re going to play other ones.
“I’m not going to be told before the games which players are going to play, I will decide, for sure!”