The Club World Cup kicks off late tonight when Inter Miami host Al Ahly, Egypt’s dominant team, in Florida. Fifa president Gianni Infantino has promised the new 32-team tournament will be the “pinnacle of club football”, yet many have been wondering if anyone will tune in.
Players are unhappy at being asked to play yet more matches while
domestic leagues complain that an already overcrowded calendar is at breaking
point. A report from Deloitte this week warned that football’s “insatiable appetite
for growth” risks having a negative effect on club finances through higher
wage demands, while another from Fifpro called for a guaranteed 4-week
off-season break and mandatory time off during the season.
Yet Fifa and Uefa are pulling in the other direction. Commercially, the
CWC has been an uphill battle. A lack of appetite among traditional
broadcasters and big streamers led to a global rights deal with DAZN, now
backed by the Saudi state.
In the UK, half the games will also be shown on Channel 5, after the BBC
and ITV decided it wasn’t worth interrupting their existing summer plans. Sponsors have been reluctant too. Fifa
announced a new commercial partner just two days before the tournament starts
(Airbnb will be the official alternative players accommodation and experiences
booking platform) points to a late scramble.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund joined the ranks of sponsors just a
week earlier. Ticket prices have
reportedly been slashed to drum up demand on the ground, while the threat posed
by the hardline stance on immigration in the US may cool appetite for
travelling fans.
According to The Athletic, US Customs and Border Protection took down a
social media post this week that had highlighted the presence of its agents
outside each of the host venues.
Despite all the gripes, the Club World Cup is still shaping up to be
something of a game-changer. In getting this far, Fifa has firmly established
itself as an important player in club football. The size of the prize pot — the
winner will take home up to $125mn — makes it as lucrative as winning the
Champions League.
For clubs such as Real Madrid and Manchester City, who faltered in the
competition this year, this offers something of a do-over, and helps explain
why there has been a flurry of transfer activity in the last couple of weeks as
top clubs look to maximise their chances.
But there’s one question that will only be answered in the coming weeks:
is the actual football going to be any good? Data consultancy Twenty First
Group is not optimistic, pointing out that the Club World Cup will feature 50
of the world’s top 100 players, compared to 72 at the World Cup in Qatar.
The group stage games, on paper at least, look pretty lopsided, while a
European team has a 95 per cent chance of winning the whole thing. Meanwhile
three of the most popular teams in the world failed to qualify, potentially
cutting off an important source of fan attention.
Whether Fifa’s land grab has paid off won’t be clear for a month, and
possibly not for a few years when they presumably look to do it all again. In the coming month, there’s a real prospect
that elite teams will end up playing in empty stadiums. Glory could well be
measured solely in US dollars.
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