Austrian team Salzburg heading to the Club World Cup after Arsenal eliminated from Champions League
MUNICH (AP) — Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid — and Salzburg.
The Austrian team is going to next year’s Club World Cup in the United States. Salzburg secured the last of 12 spots for European clubs thanks to Bayern Munich completing a 3-2 aggregate win over Arsenal in the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Arsenal could have qualified for the revamped tournament, to be held every four years, only if it won this season’s Champions League. Teams can qualify for Club World Cup spots either by having won the Champions League since 2021 or via a ranking system of their Champions League performances over four seasons.
Salzburg profited from a rule that only two teams per country can qualify unless a country had three different Champions League winners in the last four years. It meant that Arsenal needed to win this year’s competition to join 2021 winner Chelsea and last year’s winner City, the other two qualified English clubs. Among other European teams which miss out are Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Milan. Also missing will be Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.