Real Madrid will play in the Club World Cup as Carlo Ancelotti says comments about the tournament have been misinterpreted.
Widely-reported quotes from the 65-year-old said that Madrid would ‘decline an invitation’ to the newly-expanded competition.
He is purported to said it was over the amount of money FIFA was offering for the tournament.
However, Ancelotti and Madrid have released statements saying they will be playing in the Club World Cup.
A Madrid statement read: “Real Madrid CF announces that at no time has its participation in the new Club World Cup to be organised by FIFA in the upcoming 2024/2025 season been questioned.
“Therefore, our club will compete, as planned, in this official competition that we face with pride and with the utmost enthusiasm to make our millions of fans around the world dream again with a new title.”
Ancelotti said on X: “In my interview with Il Giornale, my words about the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted in the way I intended.
“Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid.”
The revamped competition has been expanded to allow 32 teams to compete with the tournament set to take place in the United States at the end of next season.
The tournament will be made up of teams from six federations, with Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus already qualified due to past success on the European and global stage.
FIFA have reportedly been discussing rights and prize money with clubs, but there are concerns over player welfare due to a bulging fixture schedule.
LaLiga chief Javier Tebas has also expressed his concerns that FIFA will try and force some domestic leagues to cut down the teams involved to accomodate new tournaments.
He said: “If we don’t take action the industry is in danger, right now. FIFA’s solution is just to create new competitions.
“But for that to happen and for us to be able to fit these competitions in, we would have to lose two clubs from La Liga.
“That would mean we’d have to make 70 players unemployed at those clubs and it would lose thousands of jobs related to those clubs.
“We need to fix the current problems before creating new competitions that will destroy the industry, clubs, jobs, the dreams of fans – and football.”