
Uefa is under pressure. As football’s governing bodies jostle for global dominance, Europe’s premier club competition — the Champions League — faces a growing threat to its pre-eminence from Fifa’s ambitious new Club World Cup.
With 75 years of history since it was formed as the European Cup, the Champions League remains football’s most lucrative and prestigious club tournament, set to generate the lion’s share of the €4.4bn in revenue forecast by Uefa across their three club competitions this season. But Fifa is encroaching, launching an expanded 32-team Club World Cup, with a $1bn prize pot, to be held in the US this summer. The move underscores a broader power struggle that could reshape the club football calendar.