Why are Liverpool not playing at the Club World Cup?

With the newly-formed edition of the Club World Cup set to commence, questions are being asked as to why certain teams aren't going to be featuring.

While the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City are set to participate despite arguably underwhelming domestic campaigns, the Premier League's top two in Liverpool and Arsenal have not been allocated a spot in the competition.

We take a look at the reason why Liverpool won't be participating at the 2025 Club World Cup.

Why are Liverpool not playing at the Club World Cup?

UEFA have been allocated 12 spots at the 2025 Club World Cup, with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea automatically entered into the competition as the three most recent winners of the UEFA Champions League.

A ranking system is in place to determine the other nine teams, but each European country is restricted to two spots. For that reason, the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal were blocked from participating irrespective of their UEFA ranking.

While Arne Slot no doubt would have liked to have added more silverware to an already impressive first campaign with the Reds, it will allow a full pre-season with a chance to integrate Jeremie Frimpong and the reportedly imminent Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz to the side.

UEFA's Club World Cup participants

• Chelsea
• Real Madrid
• Manchester City
• Bayern Munich
• Paris Saint-Germain
• Inter Milan
• Porto
• Benfica
• Borussia Dortmund
• Juventus
• Atletico Madrid
• Red Bull Salzburg