Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis explained why he believes Juventus don’t have the right to qualify for the revamped Club World Cup.
FIFA, believing the footballing calendar isn’t packed enough yet despite player and coach concerns, have decided to revamp the Club World Cup to feature 32 teams in a month-long tournament, hosted every four years in the summer starting in 2025.
Just qualifying and participating in the tournament will bring in millions in revenues for clubs involved. Inter have already qualified for the Club World Cup, leaving the final Italian spot for either Juventus or Napoli. The Partenopei need to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League to secure qualification.
Speaking at Business of Football Summit via TMW, De Laurentiis weighed in on the coming Club World Cup and why Napoli should participate instead of Juventus.
“I’m sorry for Calvo (Juventus manager, ed.) who I believe is still here, I can also feel sorry for Juventus, who have been punished and ousted from the cups this season. If we were to beat Barcelona and then get a draw and a win, we would qualify by right.
“But I also think that Napoli should go anyway, precisely because if Juventus were punished by UEFA with the elimination from the European cups.
“They shouldn’t even be admitted to the Club World Cup, without prejudice to the fact that this event will create a thousand problems for the next national season.”
Tuttosport today detailed how Juventus decided not to reply to De Laurentiis or Napoli, instead preferring to wait until their Serie A clash this weekend.