“I’d like to give a warning to FIFA” – Leonardo Jardim calls out ‘unfair’ Chelsea favouritism ahead of Club World Cup semi-final

Al Hilal manager Leonardo Jardim has criticised the scheduling of the FIFA Club World Cup ahead of his team's semi-final clash with Chelsea on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of their game against the European champions, Jardim spoke about discrimination between bigger and smaller teams in the tournament. He said:

“I'd like to give a warning to FIFA because I find it unfair some teams have to play four matches in eight days and other teams, the best, have to play two matches with their teams rested. There should be better care with the match schedule to recover, so Asia and South America can have ambition to win this cup.”

He added:

“I'm sure that the European teams, in this case Chelsea and previously Liverpool, are always the favourites. No doubt about that, but we have additional favouritism when Al Hilal has two days to recover, and of 24 teams are all the same when one team comes out fresh."

“Our victory from the previous match mirrors that - Al Jazira had difficulties in the second half. If they were rested, the match would have been different, I think, especially in the second half.”

Al Hilal advanced to the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup following a 6-1 win over Al Jazira. The Saudi Arabian side's win was the biggest in the tournament's history. They will now face Chelsea in the semi-finals of the tournament for a chance to play either Al-Ahly or Palmeiras in the final on Saturday.

It is worth noting that by virtue of being the European champions, the Blues have directly entered the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup. Palmeiras are in a similar situation to Thomas Tuchel's side, as they also entered the last four directly after winning the Copa Libertadores.

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Chelsea looking to win their first FIFA Club World Cup

Despite being one of the most successful English teams in recent history, Chelsea have never been able to win the FIFA Club World Cup. The closest they came to winning the tournament was in 2012 when they lost to Corinthians in the final.

It is noteworthy that only two English teams have won the FIFA Club World Cup - Manchester United and Liverpool. United won the competition in 2008, beating Ecuadorian side LDU Quito in the final.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are the most recent English winners of the tournament, having won it in 2019 against Brazilian side Flamengo.