Manchester City’s chief executive Ferran Soriano said he was excited by the way the revamped 32-team Fifa Club World Cup was driving football’s globalisation, with the Spaniard believing the holders can embrace the tournament’s expanded format and still be relevant to their domestic fanbase.
Pep Guardiola’s side beat Morocco’s Wydad 2-0 on Wednesday in Philadelphia in their opening group game as they began their defence of a title claimed two years ago in the competition’s last seven-club iteration.
Soriano said of the new format: “We are very excited by it. It’s something that was very much needed. Soccer is a global sport and we have to make it global. You have to have teams like Manchester City playing teams from Morocco, Korea or wherever. That’s part of the globalisation of the No 1 sport in the world. It’s a great initiative and we are very happy to be here.
“It’s very important to be here because we are a global football club. We have our roots and we are proud of them. But you can be local and relevant and faithful to the history of the club and the fans that support you, but you can also be global and show what we do – which we believe is beautiful football – to the world. It’s a combination that works very well and we are proud.”
Goals from Phil Foden and Jérémy Doku secured the defeat of Wydad as Guardiola gave debuts to Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, two of his eight new recruits in the past two windows.
Soriano said: “I’m happy with the work that we did. This is part of multi-annual planning. Last summer we only bought one new player [Savinho, while Ilkay Gündogan returned on a free transfer] but this year between the winter and the summer it will be eight new ones.
“It’s part of the annual cycle, the renewal of the squad. We accelerated some of it and now we are very happy with the squad we have. It’s part of the game [to refresh]. We look for stability, the fact that Pep is going to be with us for 10 years shows that we are a stable club.
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“But the squad needs to be renewed. It’s something that happens naturally. We’ve had fantastic players like Kevin De Bruyne who spent a decade with us. That’s a testament to his quality but also our stability.”
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