The biggest question surrounding the expanded FIFA Club World Cup is why?
Why do we need this tournament? Why is FIFA adding to an international schedule that was already dangerously overcrowded? And why are they doing it less than a year before the 2026 World Cup?
That last question — why now? — is probably the easiest to answer because the timing of the tournament, which kicks off Saturday with Inter Miami playing Egyptian club Al Ahly in South Florida, has everything to do with next summer. With 32 teams from all six FIFA confederations playing a monthlong tournament at 12 venues across the U.