Enzo Maresca claims FIFA Club World Cup could be more important than UCL in future

Overview

• Enzo Maresca opened up on the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup after Chelsea's win over PSG
• The Chelsea Manager felt the FIFA Club World Cup could be more important than the UCL in the future
• Maresca compared Chelsea's FIFA Club World Cup 2025 win with Manchester City's UCL win in 2021

Following Chelsea's 3-0 win over PSG to win the FIFA Club World Cup at the MetLife Stadium, Enzo Maresca spoke highly of the tournament. The Chelsea Manager claimed that the FIFA Club World Cup could be more important than the UEFA Champions League in the future, comparing the difference between the two top club leagues in the world.

After Chelsea's win, Maresca praised Cole Palmer for his performance and claimed that the star player was expected to come good in a big game like the one against PSG. He understood the importance of mapping the PSG players man-to-man, as leaving spaces was dangerous. He felt that an aggressive game meant suffocation and early domination against the UCL Champions.

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"These are the games we expect Cole Palmer to appear in, and once again, he showed what he is made of. The idea was to go man-to-man because if you leave spaces to PSG, they will kill you, so we tried to be very aggressive and suffocate them early on, and that intensity was crucial in the first 10 minutes due to the scorching heat, that was really difficult conditions to play in as the game progresses," said Maresca after Chelsea's win.

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"We value it as much as the Champions League, or perhaps even more" - Enzo Maresca

He was then asked about the future of the FIFA Club World Cup, its evolution, and the league turning out to be a potential threat to the UEFA Champions League. The Chelsea Manager felt the FIFA Club World Cup could be more important than the UCL in the future. He then compared the difference between winning the two Premier Leagues.

Maresca remembered his time as a coaching staff member with Manchester City, which won the UCL three years ago, and compared it with Chelsea's win. He felt winning the FIFA Club World Cup, featuring the best teams in the world, could be a bigger deal. He hence claimed to value the FIFA Club World Cup win as much as, and even more than, the UCL win.

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"I feel that this competition [the Club World Cup] will be as important as or even more important than the Champions League. I was lucky enough to be part of a coaching staff [at Manchester City] that won the Champions League three years ago, but this competition [the Club World Cup] features the best clubs in the world. That’s why we value it as much as the Champions League, or perhaps even more. For us, it was a great triumph. Allowing Chelsea fans to wear that World Champion patch on their shirts is a source of pride for us," Maresca added in his statement.