Former Liverpool manager had called the tournament “the worst idea ever invented” but Wenger says it was successful and had several benefits
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has disagreed with Jurgen Klopp’s condemnation of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, defending the 32-team tournament as a success both on and off the pitch.
Wenger pushed back on Klopp’s recent comments about the competition, in which he labelled it as “the worst idea ever invented”.
“I don’t share Jurgen Klopp’s view at all,” said Wenger, who now serves as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development. “A real Club World Cup was needed. If you make an inquiry today with all the clubs who were here at this competition, I’m basically sure that we have 100% of answers of people who want to do this again. So that’s basically the best answer.”
Klopp, who ended his eight-year tenure as Liverpool boss last summer, was majorly concerned about fixture congestion and player welfare when speaking about the competition earlier this month. He said the winner of the competition would be “the worst winner of all time” because they will have played too many games.
He also warned the clubs to expect injuries “like never before” as there is “no real recovery for those involved”.
But Wenger insisted on Thursday that clubs and players were not only happy to play in the competition but fans were also delighted to watch it.
“The decisive question is, do the fans like it?” said Wenger. “Attendance projections were low, but in reality they were much higher. The answer is there.”
The expanded Club World Cup was hosted across several US cities and has also acted as a dry run for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place across the United States, Mexico and Canada. Wenger said the one problem FIFA had identified so far was the summer heat but that it was already adapting its planning based on lessons from this tournament.
“The heat in some games was a problem,” said Wenger. “We tried to combat that with cooling breaks and watering the pitches during breaks. We learned a lot on that front.
“Certainly next year, there will be more roofed stadiums as we have to follow the TV schedule. We are learning to be better equipped to deal with these conditions.”
