FIFA Strips Manchester City's 2023 Club World Cup Title, Hands it to Chelsea

In a significant move, FIFA has reclassified the Club World Cup competition, effectively stripping Manchester City of their 2023 title and handing the first-ever championship to Chelsea. The global governing body has undertaken a sweeping rebrand and overhaul of the club competition structure, resulting in major implications for how clubs are recognized in football's official record books.

Under the new framework, the competition previously known as the FIFA Club World Cup has been rebranded and expanded into a 32-team tournament held every four years. This has led FIFA to draw a clear line between the old version of the tournament and its new iteration, with the governing body now recognizing Chelsea as the 'first ever' winners following their success in the United States in the summer of 2024.

As a result, Manchester City's dominant 4-0 victory over Fluminense in the 2023 final in Saudi Arabia will no longer be considered a Club World Cup triumph. Instead, the Premier League champions will now be recognized as 'FIFA Intercontinental Champions', a new title that also applies to previous winners such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Barcelona.

The reclassification, while largely cosmetic, is likely to provoke frustration among City supporters, as it effectively removes their club's name from the list of Club World Cup winners in the official record books. This decision complicates the way in which past achievements are presented and remembered, calling into question the legacy of all previous champions.