Something quite remarkable has happened over the past few months. Steadily, the dissenting voices became quieter as the gala in America drew nearer. Probably around the time when news of the Club World Cup’s prize money dropped.
There are 97 million reasons for all of the globe’s largest clubs to descend on the United States for Gianni Infantino’s brainchild, in what feels like a simultaneous power and money grab. Complaints about player welfare, there being too many games in the calendar, individuals burning out, have dissipated.
Possibly coincidentally but then again, possibly not.
There was a step into the unknown last night, when Lionel Messi and Inter Miami kicked off the inaugural competition to rival its international brother.
It kicked off with the threats of ICE patrols and deportations emanating from stadiums amid riots across the country and wildly different predictions on levels of interest in a tournament that should, on the surface at least, have fans salivating.
If the next month goes the way FIFA hope, President Infantino will be grinning just as he did in the Oval Office when accepting fairly rudimentary compliments from the White House’s mouthy keeper, who does not care for the sport but does care for the dollar signs associated.
There are 97 million reasons for clubs to descend on the US for Gianni Infantino’s brainchild
Steadily, dissenting voices became quieter as the Club World Cup grew closer
The tournament has a £775million pot and more than £20m each for the European clubs
President Donald Trump and the European powerhouses – including our own Chelsea and Manchester City – are bedfellows when it comes to the latter. It is the economy, stupid. The very concentrated economy.
Let’s just run the numbers to begin with.
It’s a £775million pot and more than £20m each for the European clubs merely for walking down the steps of their private jets through a mirage on the tarmac. Then there is £1.5m for a group-stage victory and £800,000 for a draw. A last-16 win is nearly £6m and the amounts rack up all the way to £30m from there.
Including the registration bonus – which can extend beyond £20m – City will have paid Rayan Cherki’s £34m fee with three group-stage wins and progression to the quarter-finals. Reach the semi-final and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s fee is sorted.
Lift the trophy at the Met Life Stadium in New York next month and Tijjani Reijnders is half paid for via FIFA too.
Really, it is little wonder that these clubs want to be here and it is hard to blame them. But nobody has a clue how this will come together. A triumph would be no surprise, yet nor would something a little more humdrum.
FIFA want the razzmatazz, marking a year until the World Cup along Miami’s South Beach on Friday night with a short gig by singer Shaboozey and an excitable former Bolton midfielder, Stuart Holden, broadcasting live on Fox.
USA manager Mauricio Pochettino gave a pre-recorded interview on the big screens, claiming his team can win it next summer. Trump described the competition as ‘the FIFA Cup’ from his desk. Both were overshadowed by Infantino, who gleefully took selfies and signed autographs for a good 10 minutes, non-stop, smiling and waving to the crowd. Arsene Wenger and Kaka were also in the VIP area but didn’t garner the same interest. Or didn’t court it.
City will have paid Rayan Cherki’s (pictured) £34m fee with three group-stage wins and progression to the quarter-finals. Reach the semi-final and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s fee is sorted
FIFA want the razzmatazz, marking a year until the World Cup along Miami’s South Beach
There is no sign of Lionel Messi’s pull and not a single Inter Miami shirt about
Down Ocean Drive over the past few days, Boca Juniors shirts have been seen aplenty. They play here against Benfica tomorrow and Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich on Friday. There is genuine appetite from Argentines to be in the city for what they are viewing as a historic opportunity to mix it with Europe. But other than that, and a rogue AEK Athens jersey, football has been non-existent.
Seven European leagues are represented, with even Portugal given two slots for their highest-ranking teams. Red Bull Salzburg are here after being recognised as the best performers in a country who had not yet filled two spots, and Paris Saint-Germain were comfortably in even before winning the 2025 Champions League.
Admittedly this is not scientific research and based solely on Mail Sport‘s own meanderings, but there has not been a single Inter Miami shirt about.
No sign of Lionel Messi’s pull. No feeling, other than one billboard across the MacArthur Causeway, that an international soccer tournament was starting over the weekend. That advert did not seem overly enticing either, with cropped action pictures rather than atmospheric headshots.
Using Miami, a city still getting used to the sport, as a barometer for the entire country would be unfair. And there will be an influx of supporters in the coming days, with the Magic City selling tickets well.
That Bayern-Boca meeting could be a sell-out, with tickets at around $300. In this part of the country, watchalong parties are being held at the iconic Clevelander Hotel in Doral and Coral Gables, where FIFA’s tournament headquarters are stationed.
Enthusiasm will be higher in other states – 63 matches in 11 cities across three time zones. If it is not ultimately the mega-event that those here are desperate for, then something will have gone badly wrong.
FIFA, who washed their hands of Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’ on the website, insist that crowds will be strong and the proof of that may come when Chelsea face Los Angeles in Atlanta tomorrow or City meet Wydad AC in Philadelphia two days later. Neither game would ordinarily attract huge crowds.
There is genuine appetite from Boca Juniors to be in the city for what they are viewing as a historic opportunity to mix it with Europe. Other than that, football has been non-existent
Using Miami, a city still getting used to the sport, as a barometer for the entire country would be unfair – and there will be an influx of supporters in the coming days
Interest is crucial and DAZN said ‘millions’ have downloaded their app, ready to watch matches
FIFA are also mindful of the weather, with a huge map of the United States up at headquarters in Coral Gables to determine what might need postponing or who may require a heads-up on adverse conditions.
Thunderstorms regularly kibosh nights on pre-season tours by the Premier League giants, yet this and the World Cup next summer are at the whim of the sky. A strong dry run in every sense would be advisable.
Interest is the key to this though – and not just from those coming through the gates. DAZN, the broadcaster who spent £740m securing the exclusive rights to stream all matches free on their app, said ‘millions’ had downloaded the software ready to watch.
Channel 5 are showing some of the English teams’ games.
‘The whole world will be watching the first game and everyone wants to watch Messi,’ said the former Italy striker and DAZN pundit Christian Vieri.
‘Even if it’s at the end of the season with tired players, they want to play this. The stadiums will be full. Big teams don’t want to lose against big teams. It’s so much money in 25 days.
‘A lot of players are tired, they want vacations. When you get on the plane to America, see the other teams arriving, see the big stadiums, you don’t want to lose. The adrenaline will come back within a week. Playing in front of 70-80,000, how can you not give everything?’
Again, we will see. And the idea is that those at home can see more than ever before. Quim Domenech, DAZN’s head of production, talked gushingly about the body cameras attached to referees – which the officials needed some serious convincing to agree to – and the potential for players to wear GoPro cameras during warm-ups.
Innovations include interviews with managers and players before kick-off and at half-time
If the next month goes the way FIFA hope, President Infantino will be grinning just as he did in the Oval Office when accepting fairly rudimentary compliments from Donald Trump
Innovations include cameras in dressing rooms and interviews with managers and players before kick-off and at half-time. There is also the option to film more behind- the-scenes access generally across the tournament.
‘It’s a huge opportunity for us to engage all over the world,’ said Domenech, neglecting to mention that the clubs can veto ideas and only have to handpick a couple of them.
The cameras on referees will not be beamed live and are subject to a quality-control check by the broadcaster to avoid any unseemly incidents.
‘It’s not just about controversy, it’s having a camera inside the action,’ Domenech added.
‘It’s a sensitive topic for the referees. Everyone will be able to watch the highlights of referee-cam after the match.
‘It’s one of the more disruptive things we’re doing and hopefully you’ll see more of it after the tournament. It’s about having a different angle, fans enjoying a goal from a referee’s perspective. That’s huge.’
Other new bits include first-team coaches using digital tablets rather than paper to communicate details about substitutions, which feels superfluous, and fans in the stadium being able to follow VAR live.
It’s all quite a lot and all quite new. As Vieri said, the world is changing, although he did add without anybody asking: ‘FIFA just invented it, I think it’s amazing.’
Infantino, with his name engraved on the trophy and his own sticker in the official Panini edition, approves this message.
