Izuchukwu OkosiSerie A giants, Juventus, has benefitted from the elimination of Napoli Tuesday night in the round of the UEFA Champions League against Barcelona and has thus qualified for the 2025 Club World Cup.
The Old Lady (Juventus) had been banned by UEFA from European football competitions this season for breaking financial rules but Napoli’s ouster after the 3-1 second leg defeat to Barcelona currently coached by Xavi Hernandez meant that Juventus advanced through a European ranking system to the revamped FIFA event.
The first leg tie had ended in a 1-1 draw with Nigerian international and current African Footballer of The Year Victor Osimhen scoring the goal for the 2022/2023 Serie A champions.
Juventus is the 21st team to qualify for the inaugural 32-team edition of the Club World Cup that will be played in the United States in June-July 2025 by the continental champions from 2021 through 2024 plus other high-ranked teams from those competitions.
Juventus advanced one day after its former player Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr fell out of contention after being eliminated in the Asian Champions League quarterfinals.
Barcelona is still not sure to be among Europe’s 12 entries because it trails Spanish rival Atletico Madrid in the European rankings.
Champions League winners in the four-year period — Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City so far — will be joined by eight or nine teams finishing highest in a table counting all results in the competition. Countries also are limited to two entries unless they have more than two winners of the continental title.
Current Serie A leaders Inter Milan, which reached the Champions League final last season have already secured its Club World Cup place by ranking and Napoli’s exit Tuesday ensured Juventus cannot be overtaken as the second-best Italian team.
Juventus reached the Champions League round of 16 twice in the four-year span and also played in the group stage last season. It is currently No. 14 in the European ranking table though behind three teams from each of England, Germany and Spain which will reach their quota.
UEFA imposed a one-season ban on Juventus from its competitions in July in the fallout from a false accounting case that also saw the team deducted points in Serie A.
Juventus also was fined 10 million euros ($11 million) by UEFA though should more than recoup that in Club World Cup prize money paid by FIFA next year. The June 15-July 13 tournament has the established World Cup format of eight four-team groups then a 16-team knockout bracket.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
