The FIFA Club World Cup has a new format – an increase in the number of clubs competing and it’s heading to the Rose Bowl in June and around the United States The new expanded edition of the tournament now features 32 teams from 20 nations and will kick off June 14. The Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami with Lionel Messi will represent Major League Soccer. CF Monterrey, Club Leon and CF Pachuca will represent Liga MX. The Rose Bowl will host six group-stage games, starting June 15 and running every other day until June 25. The opening game will feature Paris Saint-Germain against Atletico Madrid, followed by CF Monterrey against Inter Milan on June 17 and PSG versus Botafogo (Brazil) on June 19. River Plate (Argentina) and CF Monterrey will meet June 21, Atletico Madrid and Botafogo on June 23 and the final group-stage game will feature Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) against CF Monterrey on June 25. “This competition was meant to be launched right around COVID time, the first expanded edition was going to be in China,” FIFA Chief Tournament Operator Manolo Zubiria said Thursday. “Unfortunately, the pandemic put everything on hold, but it’s been a mandate of this leadership from Day One, to have an expanded Club World Cup. To really have the best clubs in the world come together. “The window that was traditionally used for the Confederations Cup, a year before the World Cup, was the perfect time to have this sort of competition, that requires a longer period of time for 32 teams to play. So, everything came together, the desire of the clubs was there, the desire of FIFA and the choice to bring it to North America was the best location to have to kickoff the inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup. Other cities across the U.S. hosting games include: Atlanta (Mercedes-Benz Stadium), Charlotte (Bank of America Stadium), Cincinnati (TQL Stadium), Miami (Hard Rock Stadium), Nashville (GEODIS Park), NY-NJ (MetLife Stadium), Orlando (Camping World Stadium and Inter&Co Stadium), Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), Seattle (Lumen Field) and Washington D.C. (Audi Field). “The Rose Bowl is such an iconic stadium for football and for FIFA,” Zubiria said. “Going back to the 1994 final. It was nice to be able to have the Rose Bowl in this iconic competition, some of the best clubs in the world coming here. “It was a choice obviously to go back in history and to be associated with an iconic stadium and have the opportunity to bring top teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid. I can imagine the excitement this week of seeing these teams play (on TV in UEFA Champions League), fans may want to see them up close this summer.” FIFA recently announced a $1 billion prize fund for the tournament, but has not yet announced how the money would be distributed between the clubs.