* Real Madrid have not only travelled to the United States; they’re taking the FIFA Club World Cup very, very seriously
* With Los Blancos signing Trent Alexander-Arnold early just to have him available for selection ahead of the tournament kicking off on Saturday
* All 63 matches of the FIFA Club World Cup 25 will be available live on ‘Your World of Champions’, SuperSport on DStv and GOtv
Analysis by Mark Doyle, Goal.com
The FIFA Club World Cup 25 gets under way in the United States on Saturday, and all six confederations will be represented at the expanded 32-team tournament. There may only be one side from OFC, but there are four apiece from AFC, CAF and CONCACAF, with Inter Miami playing the role of hosts.
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CONMEBOL has six qualifiers, while the final 12 slots will be taken up by UEFA — which was actually thrown into a little bit of doubt last summer.
Indeed, almost exactly a year ago, Carlo Ancelotti claimed that Real Madrid and other members of Europe’s elite would “refuse the invitation” to a tournament that sparked a major debate over the international match calendar.
Madrid, though, have not only travelled to the United States; they’re taking the FIFA Club World Cup very, very seriously — with Los Blancos signing Trent Alexander-Arnold early just to have him available for selection.
So, what’s changed over the past 12 months? And how much of a priority is the tournament for the other Europe-based teams, coaches and players just coming off the back of another gruelling season?
Carlo Ancelotti
When Ancelotti spoke to the Italian newspaper Il Giornale last June, Madrid had just re-established themselves as the best team in club football by winning a league-and-Champions League double.
However, he surprisingly claimed that Los Blancos had no interest in competing in the revamped Club World Cup, effectively suggesting that the financial gain wasn’t worth the physical strain.
“FIFA can forget it,” the then-Madrid boss said. “Footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament. A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million and FIFA wants to give us that amount for the whole cup? Negative. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.”
However, no sooner had the interview been published than Ancelotti insisted that his “words about the FIFA Club World Cup have not been interpreted in the way I expected.”
He also added: “More importantly, I am interested in getting the chance to play in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to pursue great titles with Real Madrid.”
‘Proud and excited’
Rather significantly, Madrid quickly issued a statement of their own that made it very clear that there had never been any internal doubt or debate over their participation in the Club World Cup.
“We are proud and excited to be involved in it and we will once again inspire our millions of fans all over the world with another trophy,” the Spanish club declared.
Furthermore, while the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) labelled the Club World Cup “a tipping point for the football calendar and the ability of players to be able to take meaningful breaks between seasons”, and led to legal challenges and complaints being filed with the European Commission, the threat of union action never materialised into an actual strike, meaning there will be no major absentees from the participating clubs.
‘Financing football all over the world’
FIFA also argued at the height of the play-welfare row that it could not be held responsible for exacerbating fixture congestion at club level as the CWC was effectively replacing the Confederations Cup in the match calendar and would only be staged every four years.
“FIFA is organising around 1% of the games of the top clubs in the world,” president Gianni Infantino said in his opening address to the 74th FIFA Congress in May of last year, “while 98-99% of the matches are organised by the different leagues, associations, confederations. FIFA is financing football all over the world.
“The revenues that we generate are not just going to a few clubs in one country, the revenues that we generate are going to 211 countries all over the world.
“There is no other organisation that does that. Our mission is to organise events and competitions, and to develop football around the world because 70% of the Member Associations of FIFA would have no football without the resources coming directly from FIFA.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino
FIFA also claimed that “some leagues in Europe – themselves competition organisers and regulators – are acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world” – a clear reference to UEFA controversially expanding its European competitions, while both La Liga and the Premier League explore the possibility of playing competitive games overseas.
FIFA added: “Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel. By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game.”
Whether expanding the tournament was really in the best interests of the game remains a heated talking point, though.
The detractors
Infantino says that as well as the US$1 billion (£740m) in prize money for the participating teams, FIFA has “a target of an additional €250 million” in solidarity payments for clubs all across the world.
“This will undoubtedly provide a significant boost in our ongoing efforts in making football truly global,” he said. “Not only that, but FIFA will neither retain any funding for this tournament, as all revenues will be distributed to club football, nor will it touch FIFA’s reserves, which are set aside for global football development through the 211 FIFA Member Associations.”
However, incoming Tottenham boss Thomas Frank says that while the Club World Cup is not a problem for the majority of teams, it is an issue for the game in general, as its very best players are being asked to play more and more games
And the congested calendar remains a serious cause for concern. Just look at the cases of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Nuno Mendes, who played in the Champions League final for Paris Saint-Germain on May 31 and the Nations League final for Portugal on June 8 — before re-joining their club colleagues this week to compete in the Club World Cup.
It must be stressed again that this isn’t solely a FIFA problem, but one perpetrated by many who oversee the game at continental and national levels.
Frank also suggested that “we’ve reached both a breaking point for the players and a saturation point for the average football fan”, with the Dane saying that there’s “no chance” of him even watching the tournament. “Who wants it?” he asked. “No-one. I will enjoy my summer instead.”
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also claimed that he doesn’t see “any real appetite from players, clubs and even supporters” for the tournament: “I am a massive football fan,” the pundit said at a CBS Sports event.
“I watch everything. But I can’t envisage me stopping my holiday or going in from the (swimming) pool to go and watch a game. I think I’ll probably forget it’s on.
“Now, I might be wrong. But, right now, I don’t think the players and the managers actually want to be there. And that’s a really sad state of affairs for a new tournament.”
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‘Unique’
It must be acknowledged, though, that the FIFA Club World Cup — even in its smaller form — always generated far more interest among South American fans and players than it did among those based in Europe, where the Champions League is considered the pinnacle of the club game.
It’s also worth noting that several players have publicly stated that they are looking forward to participating in the Club World Cup: “It’s going to be unique,” Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane told FIFA’s official website.
“As always, when it’s the first of any type of tournament, people are wondering how it’s going to go, but I’m really excited for it.”
Meanwhile, Kane’s team-mate, Thomas Muller, is enthused by the truly global nature of the tournament, telling DAZN: “It feels a bit more like the World Cup. In comparison, we had the previous version of the Club World Cup, which was just a handful of previous teams.
Harry Kane (left)
“With this Club World Cup and these players and cities, especially the European clubs, who have fans all over the world, not just Bayern but all the other top teams from Real Madrid, the top English teams and the fans will get the chance to see these players play in their country or their region.
“I think we will see a certain level of euphoria that we don’t see here, where everything is business as usual.”
Colossal significance
So while there’s no denying that some European teams are embracing the opportunity to put a positive slant on negative seasons (Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus etc.), certain sides definitely could have done without more matches right now, with Inter an obvious case in point, given fatigue was a key factor in their ageing squad capitulating during the closing stages of the 2024-25 season.
From an economic perspective, though, the FIFA Club World Cup is of colossal significance to Inter, among plenty of others. With the distribution of prize money having been weighted in favour of the top-ranked European sides, the Nerazzurri could earn more than US$30m (£22m) just from participating — which would be manna from heaven for such a cash-strapped club.
In that sense, there was never any realistic prospect of Inter turning down their invite — or anyone else for that matter. Ancelotti may not be in the US this week — but Madrid are; and just like every other European club, they’ve got their eyes on the prize.
Mamelodi Sundowns, CAF Champions League 2016 champions
African representatives
At the tournament, Confederation of African Football CAF) will be represented by four club’s — South Africa’s Premier Soccer League champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, alongside Egyptian giants Al Ahly; Wydad AC (Morocco) and Espérance de Tunis from Tunisia.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ coach Steve Komphela says they ready to represent Africa and Council for Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA), saying: “This is bigger than football, this is deeper than football.
“We’re going to sell an African product, we’re going to compete with the rest of the world. We’re going there to represent Africans,” Komphela is quoted as saying by the Sowetan.
“That [the CAF Champions League final] is gone man, we have to embrace the next challenge. It should also give us excitement that now we’re going to the FIFA Club World Cup.
“In as much as you also have to pick the pieces from what you went through in the CAF Champions League, but you have to be excited to go to USA and compete against the best teams in the world.”
Steve Komphela
The Brazilians — who won the 2016 CAF Champions League — open their campaign against Korean side Ulsan HD in Group F on Wednesday, June 18 at Inter&Co Stadium before taking on German giants Borussia Dortmund (June 21) and Brazil’s Fluminense (June 25).
All 63 matches of the FIFA Club World Cup 25 will be available live on ‘Your World of Champions’, SuperSport on DStv and GOtv after MultiChoice acquired the broadcast rights for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Europe has 12 giants in the competition, including tournament holders Manchester City (England); record five-time winners Real Madrid (Spain); 2021 winners Chelsea (England); two-time winnersBayern Munich (Germany); Inter Milan (Italy); Porto (Portugal) and French side, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) — who won the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history some two weeks ago.—Additional reporting by Maravi Express
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