Barcelona reportedly made a last-minute plea for FIFA to include in the World Cup 2025 but was beaten for MLS-Zide-Side Lafc.
It is claimed that the Catalan giants had hoped to take advantage of a late opening that was created when the Mexican side club Leon was kicked out because of the FIFAs Multi-Club property rules.
Leon and colleague Liga MX Side Pachuca are both managed by Grupo Pachuca, and the regulations prevent more than one team from the same group of property group.
According to Marca, Barcelona responded to the news about the exclusion of Leon by contacting FIFA officials in an attempt to secure a place at the renewed tournament, which started in the United States on Saturday evening.
But despite winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in the 2024–25 season, their request was refused.
Instead, after winning a Concacaf play-off against Club America-OM, Lafc got the empty lock to ensure that the berth in the North and Central American region.
Barcelona had missed the qualification via the UEFA route due to a rule with two club per country, which could only be bent if one nation had three or more Champions League winners during the qualifying period.
Twelve European clubs qualified for the Club World Cup-a mix of Champions League winners and the highest parties in the four-year coefficient table of UEFA, with a maximum of two clubs per country.
Spain had already filled in his quota: Real Madrid automatically qualified by winning the Champions League in 2022 and 2024, while Atletico Madrid took second place by ranking 10th in the UEFA coefficient table.
Barcelona, ​​despite the 12th in the same ranking for teams such as Benfica, Juventus and Red Bull Salzburg-Werden blocked by the rule with two Club-Per Land.
Three consecutive Champions League Group phase outputs between 2021 and 2023 had left them behind Atletico in the general rankings of UEFA, and already missed the two slots of Spain, they missed it.
The financial implications are huge.
Atletico is expected to make it up to € 115 million (£ 98 million) for their participation, while Real Madrid could earn no less than € 135 million (£ 115 million) – thanks to a higher start bonus for having won the Champions League.
In the meantime, Barcelona is left from Afre – with their summer tour through Japan who offers modest commercial returns compared to the windfall available in the United States.