FIFA Club World Cup 2025 transfer window: How contracts will work & how long window will remain open?

FIFA has now allowed teams to sign players before the start of the tournament.

Teams can add players to their rosters in preparation for the Club World Cup 2025 during FIFA’s special transfer window, which runs from June 1–10. Allowing players to switch clubs this early in the offseason is a first.

Nevertheless, they decided to open the window so teams may strengthen their core before the Club World Cup 2025, because the main event would start on June 14 in just over two weeks.

According to reports, U.S. Soccer has approved a window to operate within the same timeframe, but it is only open to the MLS teams that are participating in the Club World Cup 2025: Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders and LAFC.

Ahead of the Club World Cup 2025 this summer, FIFA and U.S. Soccer have changed some of the rules and added new ones to make it easier for players to sign for other teams. Clubs taking part in the competition now have more options throughout the transfer window, albeit some of the modifications might not be well-known or clear to supporters.

The #FIFACWC group-stage is locked in. 🔐

— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) June 1, 2025

Before going into free agency this summer, certain players have the chance to accept a short-term contract to play only in the competition. Some are switching teams completely on multi-year contracts, while others are finalising pre-arranged agreements.

Then there’s the unusual example of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Real Madrid, where, despite his contract expiring on June 30, Los Blancos have paid the Reds $11.3 million (€10 million) to secure his services ahead of the Club World Cup 2025.

Also Read: Top five transfers that could happen in FIFA Club World Cup 2025 transfer window

Everything you need to know about the Club World Cup transfer window

One year before the 2026 World Cup, FIFA hopes to present the Club World Cup 2025 to the globe as a major event by introducing a brand-new 32-team structure. Normally, there are only two transfer windows in a calendar year—one in the summer and one in the winter.

However, FIFA opened this window in order to make sure clubs could be at their best for the competition after redesigning the event.

“Member associations of clubs participating in the competition shall have the possibility to establish an exceptional additional registration period from June 1-10, 2025. For the avoidance of doubt, no member association is obliged to establish such an exceptional additional registration period,” FIFA said in its original statement.

Teams are only allowed 16 weeks of transfer business annually, usually 12 in the summer and 4 in January, according to FIFA regulations. To ensure that the summer window stays open until Sept. 1 as planned, the window will be closed June 11-16, reopening from thereonward.

All European clubs, including those competing in the Club World Cup 2025, are eligible to enter the June window before the tournament in order to avoid any unfair advantages.

However, the federation has apparently approved a time for the teams participating in the tournament to conduct transfer business in the United States.

However, it won’t be available to the entire league since MLS didn’t want to bar the three Canadian-based teams from making transfers, and the Canadian federation wouldn’t approve the window if no teams were participating. It is therefore only available to the contending teams.

Transfers are also permitted for Liga MX clubs that are taking part in the Club World Cup window.

Players whose contracts expire this summer and who are scheduled to play for a team in the Club World Cup face a problem because European contracts normally run from July 1 through June 30.

What happens if a player’s contract expires during the competition?

FIFA implemented a mid-tournament registration window from June 27 to July 3 to address the problem. This window enables teams to replace players who are out of contract with those who joined them at the end of their contracts or were acquired from other clubs close to the end of the supplementary transfer window.

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