Club World Cup: Arsene Wenger defends ‘fantastic competition’ after Jurgen Klopp comments

Arsene Wenger has responded to Jurgen Klopp’s claims that the Club World Cup is “the worst idea ever invented”, saying teams are in favour of the “fantastic competition”.

Former Liverpool manager Klopp criticised the tournament in June, which has been moved to the summer and expanded to 32 teams.

However, ex-Arsenal manager Wenger, now Fifa’s chief of global football development, said the Club World Cup has the full support of the teams, players and managers involved.

When asked about Klopp’s comments, Wenger said: “I am going to give a very boring answer to a very interesting question. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I don’t share the view of Jurgen Klopp at all.

“I feel a Club World Cup is needed. If you make enquiries to all the clubs who were here then 100% of answers would be that they would want to do it again. That’s the best answer of what the clubs think of a Club World Cup.

“And the decisive question is do the fans like it or not? We believe the attendances were projected as low and in reality were much higher. The answer is there.”

Fifa is also planning to learn lessons in how to deal with the heat and improve the pitches before the pan-North American World Cup in 2026, which will have most of its games in the United States.

“The heat in some games was a problem but we tried to combat that with cooling breaks, watering the pitches during the break and overall I feel we learned a lot on that front,” Wenger said.

“In two different venues [there was a problem], one of them was Orlando. But we shouldn’t underestimate the quality of the permanent [real grass] pitches.

“The grass is a bit different here. It’s a bit harsher or more resistant than in other countries. The pitches were ‘flat’. But once we watered the grass, everyone was happy.

“Certainly next year in stadiums there will also be more with roofs and the TV times will be more sensitive. At the same time, the weather conditions can be a problem for everybody.

“I asked our analysts to analyse the impact of the heat. We found heat of over 35C had an impact on high-speed running, so sprints, not distances. You have to be equipped to deal with it.”

Chelsea face Paris St-Germain in the final of the competition at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.