Carlo Ancelotti defied? Real Madrid insist they WILL participate in revamped Club World Cup as manager backtracks on claims European champions would snub FIFA

Madrid were forced to make a public announcement insisting that "at no time" have they ever considered not competing as reigning European champions at the next edition of the FIFA Club World Cup. Carlo Ancelotti also backtracked after he was quoted by an Italian newspaper suggesting Madrid wouldn't be involved.

Ancelotti's interview with Il Giornale included the following published remarked: "FIFA can forget it. The club and the footballers won't participate in that tournament. One Real Madrid game is worth €20 million (£17m/$22m), and FIFA wants to give us that sum for the entire tournament. No way. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation."

Both Ancelotti and Madrid were quick to respond to the outcry. An official statement from the club read: "Real Madrid CF announces that at no time has its participation in the new Club World Cup to be organised by FIFA in the upcoming 2024/2025 season been questioned. Therefore, our club will compete, as planned, in this official competition that we face with pride and with the utmost enthusiasm to make our millions of fans around the world dream again with a new title."

On X, Ancelotti posted: "In my interview with Il Giornale, my words about the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted in the way I intended. Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid."

The FIFA Club World Cup has changed and no longer will it be an annual mini-tournament for seven teams (six continental champions and one host representative) held over the course of a few days in December. The next edition has been supersized to 32 clubs and is transformed into a quadrennial summer event lasting a full month - the first will begin in June 2025. FIFA have also launched their own version of the old Intercontinental Cup, which is a more direct replacement for the previous Club World Cup, both in terms of its scheduling as an annual event in December and its smaller format. The earlier Intercontinental Cup was held from 1960 until 2004, pitting the European champions against the South American champions, before merging with FIFA.

Madrid will soon welcome Kylian Mbappe and Endrick through the door, taking last season's European champions to another level. Neither, however, is likely to be present when Ancelotti's team play their first game of a summer tour of the United States on July 31, due to Euro 2024 and Copa America participation respectively.