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Club World Cup: the rich get richer

FIFA has finally confirmed the revenue distribution model for the expanded version of the Club World Cup, which will take place in the United States from 15 June to 13 July.  The big headline is that a cool One Billion Dollars will be shared between the 32 participating clubs, so the teams that reach the latter stages of the tournament can look forward to receiving a substantial windfall.

The highest ranked European club, namely Manchester City could earn a massive $125.8m (including $38.2m participation pillar), while the top South American club would only receive $102.8m, as their participation pillar is much lower at $15.2m.

Chelsea’s maximum earnings of $116.6m (£97m) are less than Manchester City’s $125.8m (£105m).  It’s worth noting that the big money only accrues in the later stages of the tournament. For example, City would receive “only” $51.7m for reaching the last 16 with the other $74.1m up for grabs from the quarter-finals onwards.

One obvious concern about the Club World Cup is that, while it might be a major positive financially for the participants, it will only add to the competitive imbalance in the football world. This will build on the distorting effect of the big money in the Champions League, especially for clubs in the smaller domestic leagues.   As an example, looking at the 12 European representatives, the minimum participation pillar works out to between 4% and 14% of a club’s annual revenue.  Looking at the impact per country, we can see that the maximum earnings of the Club World Cup would be more than the domestic deal in all cases except for the Premier League and La Liga.

However, the Club World Cup has added another level to the hierarchy, which will be an interesting development, as it will no longer be a case of the “haves” and “have nots”, but the “super haves”, “haves” and “have nots”.

Assuming that the English clubs reach the quarter-finals of the new tournament, the authoritative Swiss Ramble estimates that they would earn £311m TV money, which would be £65m more than the Champions League representatives. The gap to an “ordinary” Premier League club that did not qualify for Europe at all would then be an amazing £181m.

The physical workload being placed on players at the leading clubs is already at a ridiculously high level, especially after the expansion in the Champions League, with the Club World Cup only adding to the congested calendar.  The tournament has understandably been criticised for this reason by FIFPRO, a global union of professional players, and also by some of the top leagues.

Despite FIFA’s fine words about the expanded Club World Cup being introduced to boost the global game, it’s difficult to look at the tournament as anything other than the latest way in which the rich get richer.

One of the biggest issues facing the game is competitive balance, so the announcement of the huge amounts of money on offer at the tournament will only makes things worse from that perspective.

 

 

 

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