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Aaron Stokes

Jamie Carragher calls for boycott as FIFA announce new tournament that could include Newcastle

Yet more top-level football could be arriving on our screens in the near future if Fifa president Gianni Infantino gets his way. The controversial chief of football's governing body has revealed a new 32-team Club World Cup has been agreed for the year 2025.

Little detail has been revealed as to which sides will qualify for the new-look tournament but there is hope inside the boardrooms of St James' Park that by the time 2025 rolls around, Newcastle United will have gone some way to upsetting the Premier League apple cart.

The Magpies are flying at present and are ahead of schedule in their pursuit of breaking up the normal 'Big Six' in England. As the north east outfit continue to grow, they will have more opportunity to be sucked into new and ever-changing Fifa and Uefa competitions.

READ MORE: Allan Saint-Maximin's scary warning to Premier League as he eyes link up with Miguel Almiron

The Champions League has already been subject to a revamp from 2024/25 onwards, with an extra four team taking part and the current group stage format scrapped. Eddie Howe's side may well have done enough to reach the European competition should the Magpies continue to impress in the Premier League.

Infantino's announcement on Friday has not gone down well, with fans worried regarding yet more club football being crammed into an already busy fixture calendar. The FIFA chief says the 'best clubs' in the world will be invited into the competition.

"The details of the location still need to be discussed but it has been agreed and decided that a 32-team Club World Cup tournament will go ahead making it like a World Cup," Infantino announced.

"I don't know what the British press says or doesn't say, but I know what we've decided and that is that there will be a Club World Cup of 32 teams to be played every four years and the first edition will take place in 2025 in the summer. They will be the best teams in the world who will all be invited to participate."

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher is another football fan who believes the new tournament is added unnecessary pressure on players and has called on any team invited to play in the competition to boycott it.

"Like the ridiculous idea of a FIFA World Cup every two years, this is another one from Infantino," he tweeted. "Players need rest at some point, they are getting treated like cattle. FIFA hate the CL & want something similar themselves. European clubs should boycott it."

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