Who would have thought? We certainly didn’t, but one should believe that Inter Miami has actually qualified for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Lionel Messi and Co. were able to claim their spot in the 32-team tournament by winning the 2024 MLS Shield. While it is a moment of joy for ardent Herons fans, others are rather objecting to their presence in this global domestic tournament.

Why? Before we get into the roasting of FIFA, let’s try to set the scene. Prior to FIFA’s announcement of awarding a Club World Cup spot to Inter Miami, there was significant confusion regarding the criteria for how an MLS team could qualify for the prestigious tournament. Logically, there were two potential ways for an American club to secure a spot in the CWC.

The first method, which is how Inter Miami qualified, is by winning the regular MLS Shield. The second was believed to be by winning the 2024 MLS Cup, which involves teams that first qualify for the playoffs. Interestingly, both methods had considerable support, but an independent vote determined that the MLS regular season winners should be the rightful recipients of the Club World Cup spot.

Notice something odd? It wasn’t the MLS, but FIFA themselves, who announced that Inter Miami had qualified for the Club World Cup, without any prior notification from the league. Typically, this tournament sees champions from various confederations compete for global dominance. Each season, the UEFA Champions League winner is always one of the participants.

Meanwhile, the others can include CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores champions or champions from regions like Asia, Africa, and North America. This event serves as a premier stage that highlights the best in club football. However, the 2025 edition will feature a slight rule change due to its location in the United States.

Hence, FIFA decided to grant an automatic qualification spot to the host nation, awarding it to the best-performing club from the U.S. ergo Inter Miami. Regardless, this decision has rather created havoc in the soccer world, with many fans slamming FIFA’s method of deciding the qualification criteria at the last moment.

Soccer world rips FIFA apart over giving Club World Cup spot to Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami

“First, you were the best team of the season in America. Second, based on this outstanding performance of this year, you deserve to be and will be in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. And the third, as the host team in FIFA Club World Cup 2025, you have the honor of playing the opening game in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium,” guess where did FIFA president Gianni Infantino said this?

Correct! During Inter Miami’s postgame celebration at Chase Stadium. Of course, this raised a few eyebrows of netizens on X, formerly Twitter, who aren’t sparing Infantino and Co.

The main source of fan frustration is the lack of input from MLS. Despite having the authority to make such decisions, the governing body of America’s domestic soccer scene instead ceded the power to FIFA, who, according to fans, appear to be acting in their own interest.

FIFA’s sudden decision raises a bigger question: if they no longer see the MLS playoffs and MLS Cup as deciding the US soccer champions, should the U.S. adopt a promotion-relegation system, like most of the world follows under FIFA’s guidelines?

Shots fired! It’s obvious that Don Garber-led Major League Soccer as well as the United States Soccer Federation had enough time to decide the criteria. But given how different the American league works from the rest of the world, we can clearly see how FIFA decided to cut the time and just gave the qualification to “Best team in USA”!

The qualification spot is very important for a country like the USA. For starters, they are set to host some major tournaments in the near future, including the highly anticipated 2026 World Cup. Given that the 2025 Club World Cup will take place in the heart of the United States, did they really want to award the qualification spot to Inter Miami simply because of the presence of the greatest soccer player of all time?

Looks like the modern part of the beautiful game is all about money. Beyond expensive transfers, franchises, and commercial deals, this fan claims we might be witnessing a stage where even the tournaments are being planned in a way that generates numbers for the stakeholders.

This is just a glimpse of what you saw as the enrage among ardent fans doesn’t seem to stop in time. Regardless, we would like to know your thoughts on the same in the comments.