Arsenal miss out on a place in next year’s Club World Cup after suffering defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League – with FC Salzburg set to take final spot in the competition
- Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League after the defeat to Bayern Munich
- As a result, they failed to qualify for the inaugural extended Club World Cup
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Arsenal suffered a double blow after the defeat against Bayern Munich, which also saw them miss out on a place in next year’s expanded Club World Cup.
Mikel Arteta’s side were dumped out of the Champions League on Wednesday evening after Joshua Kimmich’s header gave the German side a 3-2 lead on aggregate.
It was a crushing blow for the Gunners, who initially led in the first leg of the match before the German side managed to find an equalizer.
The result now means Arsenal will miss out on a place at next year’s Club World Cup, with FC Salzburg set to take the final spot in the competition.
The revamped version of the tournament will consist of 32 teams, 12 of which represent UEFA and six from CONMEBOL, its South American counterpart.
The Gunners were knocked out of the Champions League after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern
As a result, Austria’s FC Salzburg will take the last spot at next year’s Club World Cup
The AFC, CAF and CONCACAF are each represented by four clubs, with the OFC and host association receiving one slot each.
A place reserved for the winners of this year’s Champions League, which could have been Arsenal before the defeat to Bayern Munich.
Now, however, all four teams in the semi-finals have already qualified for the Club World Cup, meaning the place has been reallocated.
It then goes to the best performing club in the Champions League over the past four years, which is not yet in the competition.
However, a number of teams, such as Liverpool and Napoli, were ahead of Salzburg, but due to a two-club limit for teams from one country, the Austrian team takes their place.
They reached the round of 16 of the Champions League in 2022 and have been in the group stages of the competition for the past four years.
Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City have qualified thanks to winning the Champions League in the past three seasons.
Man City qualified for the Club World Cup after winning the Champions League last season
Meanwhile, a further eight clubs – Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Atletico Madrid – have qualified based on UEFA’s quadrennial rankings.
Salzburg have never won a European trophy, going so far as to lose the UEFA Cup final to Inter Milan in 1994 when it was still known as Austria Salzburg.
Salzburg had to wait 61 years for their first league title in 1994 before adding two more over the next three years, but have become the dominant force in Austrian football since being taken over by Red Bull in 2006.
RB Salzburg have won the Austrian Bundesliga in 14 of the past 18 seasons, finishing second the other four times and are currently bidding to win their 11th title in a row.
