More Club World Cup problems: EPL refuse Man City's request

The Premier League has allegedly rejected a special request from Manchester City.

The reigning English champions, according to manager Pep Guardiola, asked the division to postpone their start to the 2025/26 campaign. City officials recently approached the league to see if they could push back their first two matches of the campaign.

Guardiola’s request, which has apparently been denied, centers around the 2025 Club World Cup. City will be one of 32 clubs to feature at the upcoming summer tournament in the United States. They earned a place in the competition by winning the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League.

The controversial expanded Club World Cup is scheduled to begin on June 15th of next summer. This particular date is just three weeks after the final Premier League matchday. It is also 15 days after the next Champions League final, assuming City reach the title game.

Report claims City’s talks with league officials are in the early stages

City, and other teams at the Club World Cup, also will not have much time to recover from the end of the tournament to the start of the 2025/26 season. The competition’s final is set for July 13th. Premier League seasons typically begin in the middle of August. This particular timeframe, according to City, would not give the club suitable time away from the pitch.

Guardiola confirmed the Premier League’s stance on the issue during a press conference on Friday. “The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery,” said Guardiola. “Thank you so much.”

“I think the club asked the league to postpone one or two or three weeks so we can have a holiday after the [Club] World Cup but it is absolutely not allowed. The Premier League say yes to us? No. Absolutely not.”

Despite the coach’s comments, BBC Sport reports that there has been no formal request by City. Instead, the news outlet claims that only initial informal discussions have taken place so far on the issue between the two sides.

FIFA wants Club World Cup teams to use their strongest squads

Along with creating a potential scheduling nightmare for clubs, FIFA has also insisted that teams featuring at the Club World Cup must field their strongest possible rosters during the tournament. Guardiola, however, has questioned the assertion by the governing body.

“What are the strongest players? Which ones? If FIFA would tell me, for them, which players are stronger than the other ones,” claimed the City coach. “I don’t understand that.”

“Maybe the strongest player for them is in a really bad condition for many reasons: personal, professional, niggles, injuries. And we are going to play other ones. I’m not going to say before the game which player to play. I will decide, that’s for sure.”

FIFA has been under fire regarding the Club World Cup since they opted to drastically alter the competition. The annual tournament has typically featured just seven clubs and only lasted about ten days in recent years. FIFA’s decision to expand the competition has even resulted in a potential lawsuit with FIFPro, the global soccer players union.

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