Club Together: FIFA Festival Of Football Contends With Considerable Teething Troubles
In The Money Supported By Novuna Consumer Finance
FIFA’s latest attempt to create a meaningful global club football competition has resulted in the expansion of the Club World Cup, increased from an annual seven-club tournament to a mega tournament held every four years.
The inaugural edition of the 32-club tournament will be played across the United States from 14 June to 13 July – and will now take place in summers prior to the World Cup. Bringing together leading club sides from across the world, the competition kicks off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, culminating with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
European giants including Real Madrid and Inter Milan will be joined by legendary South American clubs Boca Juniors and Flamengo, plus leading clubs from all continents of the world, including Wydad AC of Morocco, Al Ain from United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal, Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds and Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa.
While a festival of top-class football awaits, the planning for the expanded tournament has been plagued with teething troubles. Global players’ union FIFPro and the top European leagues say the international football calendar is already “oversaturated” and “risks player safety and wellbeing”. As a result, FIFA faces legal action from player unions and leagues over the issue.
The PFA and the French players’ union filed a claim at the Brussels court of commerce “challenging the legality of FIFA’s decisions to unilaterally set the international match calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025”. PFA officials argue it is a “tipping point for the football calendar and the ability of players to be able to take meaningful breaks between seasons”.
FIFA also became locked in disputes with some existing sponsors over whether their contracts should also include the new tournament. Long-term partners adidas and Coca-Cola lodged cases at the Swiss Arbitration Centre in Zurich against FIFA around Club World Cup sponsorship rights, after FIFA attempted to negotiate new contracts for the revamped event. Adidas and Coca-Cola signed deals to 2030 thought to be worth about $70m for each four-year cycle and believed the deals included rights for the Club World Cup.
Both companies were unwilling to enter a fresh tender process with the federation. Coca-Cola subsequently agreed a compromise, while adidas reached an agreement to be the tournament supplier in January. As well as supplying the official match ball, adidas is set to provide uniforms for match officials, volunteers and FIFA staff across the tournament. It is unknown whether Coca-Cola and adidas negotiated new contracts to include the Club World Cup or included the competition in their preexisting deals.
AB InBev, Hisense and Bank of America are also confirmed as tournament sponsors. AB InBev and Hisense are also long-standing FIFA partners, while Bank of America partnered with FIFA last year to become a global sponsor of the 2026 World Cup. While no financial figures for that deal have been made public, it is reportedly worth US$100m.
FIFA had hoped to attract 10 major partners, but the tournament has also encountered further financial uncertainties. Initially it was planned for a competition that would generate revenues of €2bn, and despite doubts, the target was confirmed in a revised budget in March. A €1bn broadcast deal with DAZN was secured in December 2024, which together with ticket revenues, makes up most of the tournament’s income.
DAZN – the loss-making entity which recently sold a stake to SURJ Sports Investment, a company operating as part of the Saudi Public Investment Fund – will broadcast all 63 matches for free and the terms of the contract permit it to sublicense games to free-to-air broadcasters in local markets.
Speaking of the deal, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, said: “I am delighted to announce that FIFA, in partnership with DAZN and FIFA+, will bring the best of club football for free to everywhere in the world, meaning that every single football fan across the globe can watch the best players from the 32 best clubs compete in the FIFA Club World Cup to be the first official ‘FIFA Club World Champions’.
FIFA President, Gianni Infantino. Picture by Eva Marie Uzcategui FIFA via Getty Images
“Through this broadcasting agreement, billions of football fans worldwide can now watch what will be the most widely accessible club football tournament ever – and for free.”
Securing the DAZN global streaming deal for the tournament was a major boost, after talks with Apple+ broke down. Apple’s offer was also worth around $1bn, a quarter of the value FIFA had originally sought.
Ticket prices have also been lowered in the run up to the tournament because of lower-than expected interest. The cheapest tickets for the final were being offered at $300 instead of the original $890. For the semi-final, supporters were offered a ‘cheap’ ticket for $140 instead of $526. In the round of 16, ticket prices for the lowest category also dropped with FIFA insisting that the price drop is to reward loyal fans.
While ticket sales have been sluggish, FIFA has failed to provide updates on sales figures. Tickets for the opening match, two semi-finals and final were available at the time of writing (March 2025) – and all 63 matches were still listed on Ticketmaster, the official sales platform.
Teams will share $1bn in prize money, with the winner of the competition expected to earn approximately $125m, the equivalent to winning the UEFA Champions League, but after playing only seven matches. Major competitors in the tournament – particularly European clubs – are expecting minimum participation fees of up to £37m, due to assurances given by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino.
Representing the Premier League, Chelsea and Manchester City have reportedly been told to expect between £50m and £60m from their participation in the tournament. However, participation fees for some clubs are expected to be lower than originally expected, with fees still to be confirmed with less than three months until kick off.
Former Chelsea and Tottenham Manager, Andre Villas-Boas, currently President of Portuguese giants Porto, revealed fees for some clubs may be reduced.
“The European Club Association is still in discussions with FIFA to better allocate the amount to the European clubs, so it is estimated that the share will be between £13.2m and £16.5m, and then it will obviously increase depending on the club’s performance,” he says.
“Well below initial expectations, but I can also say from the bottom of my heart that we are very pleased to be in this competition.”
Several clubs are pushing FIFA to commit the body’s own reserves to fund any shortfall. However, if any tournament prize money came from reserves, it would be controversial for the wealthiest clubs to be handed additional funds.
Infantino stressed: “All revenue generated by the tournament will be distributed to the participating clubs and via club solidarity across the world as FIFA will not keep a single dollar. FIFA’s reserves, which are there for global football development, will remain untouched.”
Such has been the financial uncertainty surrounding tournament, Spanish giants Real Madrid have not budgeted for any income from the tournament in their initial projections for 2024/25 because ‘there is no precise information’ on the competition. The LaLiga side shared its budgetary projections with club members in documents that showed its turnover surpassed €1bn for the first time, not including income from the tournament.
Images: Getty Images
