– I’m not going to watch a second of that. It doesn’t interest me. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to football, Solbakken tells the press after beating Estonia 1–0.

Most of Norway’s national team players ended a ten-month-long season with a victory over Estonia on Monday night, but for some, the trip is straight to the United States.

There will be 32 teams participating in the FIFA Club World Cup, where the winner can expect to win over one billion Norwegian kroner. The tournament will take place from June 14 to July 13.

– Just nonsense

Eight Norwegian players are participating in the tournament: Oscar Bobb, Erling Braut Haaland, Julian Ryerson, Andreas Schjelderup, Fredrik Aursnes, Alexander Sørloth, Odin Thiago Holm.

But even though there are a number of Norwegians in action, the national team manager will not be accompanying them.

– I won’t watch that. I’m boycotting it. It’s just nonsense, says Solbakken on TV 2’s broadcast.

PARTICIPATING: Manchester City with Erling Braut Haaland and perhaps Oscar Bobb are among the teams participating in the Club World Cup.

He is then asked why he does not want to follow his own players who play numerous matches. He also believes that this is a case of predatory exploitation of football players.

Solbakken highlights, among other things, that the team does not qualify for the Club World Cup, and describes several of the matches as “uninteresting.”

– I can see them in proper leagues and proper cups. Not in the Coconut Cup. Something has to go. Then I think it’s obvious that it has to go, says the national team manager.

This is the first time the Club World Cup has been played in this expanded format. It has never consisted of more teams, and has never been played over a longer period of time. The teams that reach the final play seven matches.

The following teams are participating in the 2025 Club World Cup

12 teams from Uefa (Europe): Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Chelsea, Inter, Porto, Benfica, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, FC Salzburg 6 teams from Conmebol (South America): Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, River Plate, Boca Juniors 5 teams from Concacaf (North and Central America): Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, Pachuca, LAFC, Inter Miami 4 teams from CAF (Africa): Al Ahly, Wydad AC, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns 4 teams from AFC (Asia): Al Hilal, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Ulsan HD One team from OFC (Oceania): Auckland City

These are the groups:

Group A

SJÅ Palmeiras (Brazil) FC Porto (Portugal) Al Ahly SC (Egypt) Inter Miami CF (USA)

Group B

Paris Saint-Germain (Frankrike) Atlético de Madrid (Spain) Botafogo (Brazil) Seattle Sounders FC (USA)

Group C

FC Bayern Munich (Germany) SL Benfica (Portugal) CA Boca Juniors (Argentina) Auckland City FC (New Zealand)

Group D

Chelsea FC (England) CR Flamengo (Brazil) Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia) Los Angeles FC (USA)

Group E

CA River Plate (Argentina) FC Internazionale Milano (Italy) CF Monterrey (Mexico) Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan)

Group F

Borussia Dortmund (Germany) Fluminense FC (Brazil) Ulsan HD (South Korea) Mamelodi Sundowns FC (South Africa)

Group G

Manchester City FC (England) Juventus FC (Italy) Wydad AC (Morocco) Al Ain FC (United Arab Emirates)

Group H

Real Madrid CF (Spain) Al Hilal SFC (Saudi Arabia) FC Salzburg (Austria) CF Pachuca (Mexico)

Teams are qualified based on performance in continental club tournaments (such as the Champions League and Copa Libertadores) over a four-year period (2021–2024). The winners of these tournaments over this four-year period automatically qualified for the tournament.

The remaining places are filled from a ranking of clubs based on results in the same period, with a maximum of two teams per country.

This is how the players react

If Sørloth is on the field in all matches for Atlético Madrid, a possible final would mean that he has been involved in 67 matches for club and national team this season, according to Transfermarkt.

The Atlético Madrid striker is himself focused on performing in the controversial tournament in the United States.

– I am a professional football player. I will do my job and aim to win the entire tournament, says Sørloth to NRK and the press corps.

– What do you think about Ståle wanting to boycott?

– What do you think about Ståle wanting to boycott?

– He will be responsible for that.

PARTNER: Alexander Sørloth will likely be an important player for his Atlético Madrid this summer.

Ødegaard will not comment:

– I don’t need to talk about that now, says Norway’s captain.

Bobb shows more understanding for the skepticism.

He is unlikely to play a very big role in the tournament, as he has struggled with injuries all season.

– It has probably received a lot of criticism. I don’t know, I don’t think it means much to me. But I understand it completely, it comes after a long season. I understand the criticism very well, Bobb tells the press after beating Estonia 1–0 in Tallinn.

Niso: – Extreme strain

More matches lead to increased concern about the workload of the players, including among the Norwegian Players’ Association.

– Passing 60 club matches in one season – and then going straight into a new season four weeks after the Club World Cup – illustrates an extreme strain on the players, says Kristoffer Vatshaug, head of Niso.

They are not

Vatshaug points out that “the physical risk increases significantly, with a potentially higher incidence of injuries and fatigue.”

– At the same time, the mental pressure is enormous. Performing continuously without real time for relaxation, family life and mental recovery is not sustainable over time, he says.

NISO LEADER: Former elite series player Kristoffer Vatshaug.

– A boundary we are about to cross

Niso works closely with Fifpro. They protect the rights of players internationally and represent over 65,000 professional football players in more than 60 countries.

Fifpro

– Niso and Fifpro are clear that this type of match program represents a boundary we are now about to cross, says Vatshaug.

The Club World Cup rules state that clubs must field their best team throughout the tournament. Based on FIFA’s general disciplinary regulations, violations of this can be punished with fines and warnings.

Former Arsenal manager and current FIFA global development director, Arsène Wenger, has previously defended the championship.

He accepts that the calendar is busy, but believes that the criticism does not take into account the strong sports science development that football has had.

RESPONDING TO CRITICISM: Arsène Wenger believes VAR has also helped reduce the risk of players getting injured.

– The situation of the players has improved dramatically in the last 20 years when you look at injury prevention, recovery work, nutrition and advances in medical technology. It is unrecognizable from before, said Wenger.

Betting on huge sums

With a huge prize pool of approximately 1.3 billion kroner, it is expected that the teams will take the tournament very seriously. Vatshaug has no doubt that the money affects how the clubs think.

– When cash prizes of this magnitude are involved, we risk that the loyalty of the players’ needs and welfare will be weakened, he says.

Slik fordelast pengane

Performance-based bonuses ($475 million):

Grunnspel:

Grunnspel:

Group stage win: $2 million Group stage draw: $1 million

Utslagsrundar:

Kick-off rounds:

Round of 16: +$7.5 million Quarter-final: +$13.125 million Semi-final: +$21 million Final (losing finalist): +$30 million Winner of the final: +$40 million

Maximum: 87.625 million dollars or 883 million Norwegian kroner.

Participation ($525 million):

Amounts vary by confederation and coefficient points:

Europe: $12.81–$38.19 million South America: $15.21 million North and Central America, Asia, Africa: $9.55 million Oceania: $3.58 million

Real Madrid and Manchester City earn around $38 million just for showing up.

Auckland City from Oceania receives the least, with around 3.6 million dollars.

Kilde: Fifa.com

– Financial considerations will 100 percent trump player considerations, says Torstein Dalen-Lorentsen.

He is a research leader at Sintef. He has long been involved in the total workload of players, and believes that the federation is doing itself a disservice by increasing the number of matches.

Sintef

– UEFA and FIFA will therefore be keen on a football week where players have time to recover. This will provide a higher pace and quality in the matches. In addition, it will be good for the players’ health. With a reasonable match load, we can avoid damage to both the product and the players, says Dalen-Lorentsen and adds:

– The Club World Cup has been a poor attempt to squeeze more matches into a packed calendar and into a soon-to-be-saturated football interest. I don’t think it has a place in the football ecosystem.

OVER ONE BILLION: FIFA President Gianni Infantino has ensured a huge prize pool in the Club World Cup.

Fifpro with measures

On Tuesday this week, Fifpro released a research report on this topic. The aim was to establish minimum standards to protect players from excessive strain and a tight match schedule.

research report

– If we agree that health comes first, we must implement these measures, says Dr. Vincent Gouttebarge, medical director of Fifpro.

One of the proposals that was put forward is a mandatory four-week break after the season, and two weeks should be completely free of obligations.

A summary of Fifpro’s study

The experts agreed on 12 specific security standards with at least 75% agreement.

These include:

Mandatory four-week break after the season, and two weeks must be completely free of obligations At least one week of full break in the middle of the season Minimum four weeks of rehabilitation before returning to competition after the season break Consideration of travel stress after long-haul flights Special rules for players under 18 years of age Minimum rest between matches, at least one weekly rest day and medical clearance from at least one member of the support staff before returning from injury