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Arsenal must win the Champions League this season to secure the last remaining spot in the Club World Cup. They are at risk of losing their spot to Red Bull Salzburg if they fail to win the tournament this season.
The Club World Cup is set to feature 32 teams out of which 12 teams will be from UEFA and six from its Latin American counterpart, CONMEBOL. It will also feature four teams each from AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF. The OFC and the host association will get one spot each.
Eleven out of UEFA's 12 slots have already been filled, while the last slot is reserved for the winners of the Champions League. RB Salzburg is ranked 18th in the UEFA coefficient ranking and is eligible to qualify for the final slot.
Salzburg have never won the Champions League in their history. The Austrian club have qualified for the group stages in the last four seasons. However, they only made it to the Round of 16 once in 2022 but lost to Bayern Munich 2-8 on aggregate.
Premier League will have three representatives in the Club World Cup if Arsenal win the Champions League
As per the rules, UEFA can have 12 representatives in the revamped Club World Cup. The winners of each confederation's highest club tournament have already qualified. The remaining slots were chosen as per UEFA's four-year club ranking.
Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester City have qualified as they've won the Champions League in the last three seasons. The other qualified teams are Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Juventus, and Atletico Madrid, based on the four-year ranking.
The last spot is reserved for the Champions League winners this season. However, the Club World Cup has a rule that allows a maximum of two teams per league to take part in the tournament. Two teams from the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A have already been chosen.
The only exception to this rule is made for the UCL winners. Therefore, if Arsenal wins the trophy in Wembley this season, the Premier League will have three representatives in the Club World Cup.
Arsenal do not qualify for the competition via UEFA's four-year club ranking criteria. Therefore, their only chance to be a part of the prestigious tournament is to win the UCL. If the club fails to do so, the spot will be given to RB Salzburg.
While clubs like Liverpool, Barcelona, Sevilla, RB Leipzig, Napoli, and AC Milan are all ranked higher than Salzburg, the rule of a maximum of two teams per league does not allow these clubs to take part in the competition.
Therefore, Salzburg is the highest-ranked club eligible to qualify for the Club World Cup if Arsenal do not win the Champions League. The club won their first league title in 1994. They were taken over by Red Bull in 2006 and have since then won the Austrian Bundesliga 14 times.
However, they have not enjoyed success in European competitions. This season, RB Salzburg finished last in their group D, behind Inter Milan, Benfica, and Real Sociedad.
