Reason why Chelsea are in the Club World Cup

CHELSEA or Manchester City could pocket close to £100million if they clinch the title at this summer's Club World Cup.

FIFA has laid out the details of how the whopping $1billion (£774.6million) prize pot is going to be divided among the teams involved. And just in case you're wondering why Chelsea have made it into the cup, here’s the scoop.

Why is Chelsea in the Club World Cup?

This summer, the Club World Cup over in the States is going all out with 32 teams for the first time ever.

The team that wins all their matches could pocket a cool £96.8million.

Chelsea and City are flying the flag for England at the tournament, having nabbed their spots by winning the Champions League in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

Who is in the Club World Cup?

Heavyweights like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain are also joining the fray, along with teams from all six continental confederations.

The 32 clubs throwing their hats into the ring at the expanded tournament will split a hefty £406.7million in participation fees.

How the pot gets divided hinges on a ranking system that considers both sporting prowess and commercial appeal.

The 12 European clubs will see their share of the pie range from £9.9million to a generous £29.6million, based on these criteria, following an agreement set out by the European Club Association (ECA).

Teams will be battling it out in a maximum of seven matches during the tournament, which stretches from June 14 to July 13.

There's a whopping £367.9million up for grabs as performance-related prize money.

Bagging a win in the group stages will fetch £1.5million per game, and clinching the final alone comes with a £31million reward.

To put it into perspective, that's more generous per game compared to the UEFA Champions League.

This season’s champ could make up to £133.8million but would need to play at least 15 games, rather than just seven at the Club World Cup.

FIFA is keen to emphasise that it's not about the money for them.

They've pledged to reinvest all earnings from the Club World Cup back into the sport, rather than taking any commercial revenue for itself.

About £193.6million is earmarked to be shared with clubs that aren't even playing in the tournament, all in the spirit of growing the beautiful game globally.

What are the qualifying criteria?

Starting from the group stages of each confederation’s top club competition, the format is pretty straightforward.

Clubs earn three points for a win and one point for a draw.

For European clubs, there’s a bit of a twist.

They’ve already wrapped up three full seasons and the group stage of a fourth in the UEFA Champions League.

UEFA also has this existing club coefficient system they’ve been using, so for this particular ranking, they’ll stick with that method, but just for the Club World Cup.

European clubs will get two points for a win and one for a draw.

Qualifying for the group stage earns them four points, making it to the round of 16 gets them five points, and then it's one point for each subsequent stage they advance to.

When it comes to confederations with slots at the Club World Cup, here’s how it breaks down.

If a confederation has more than four slots, the champions of that confederation’s main club competition get to go, along with clubs that have the best ranking within the confederation.

For confederations with exactly four slots, it's the same deal, but if there are repeated champions, then other top-ranked clubs within the confederation also get a shot.

And for those confederations with fewer than four slots, it’s the top-ranked clubs among the champions that get to participate.

The system makes sure every match counts and the best of the best get their chance to shine on the world stage.