Nobody Cares About The Club World Cup

Nobody Cares About The Club World Cup

Chandler Milligan

On the back of Kevin De Bruyne’s favourite tournament, the UEFA Nations League, football fans can rejoice, for yet another meaningless competition has interrupted the post-season break.

Introducing the new and improved FIFA Club World Cup.

Once an annual tournament designed to pit the champions from six continental federations (and the host nation’s league winners) together in a short, knockout competition, has been turned into an American snooze-fest with very little purpose.

What used to be just another reason to give the UEFA Champions League winners another trophy (and a cool gold badge on their jerseys) has now turned into a 32-team tournament consisting of a random handful of teams based on their domestic performances over the last few years.

The trophy looks like Hermione Granger’s time-turner, the stadiums are near empty, and games are taking place under extreme heat with early afternoon kickoff times.

On the bright side, this tournament reunites a glorious generation of legendary footballers who are well past their prime, but still kicking on around the world.

Oliver Giroud for LAFC, Edinson Cavani for Boca Juniors, Aleksandar Mitrovic for Al Hilal, Sergio Ramos for Monterrey, Thiago Silva for Fluminese, Angel Di Maria for SL Benfica, plus Luis Suarez & Lionel Messi for Inter Miami.

Somehow, the MLS Supporters Shield was important enough to qualify Messi’s Inter Miami, but Cristiano Ronaldo remains a notable exclusion given Al Nassr failed to win the King’s Cup, the AFC Champions League Elite, the Super Cup, or the Saudi Pro League.

The opening match of the newly ‘upgraded’ Club World Cup ended in a 0-0 draw between Al Ahly and Inter Miami.

A perfect embodiment of the lacklustre tournament about to unfold over the next month.

PSG will probably win the whole thing.

Or maybe Real Madrid, since this will only count as a major title if Los Blancos get their hands on it.

Perhaps Manchester City, if they can be bothered putting their best foot forward.

Tickets have reportedly been slashed from around $349 to as low as $4 in a desperate attempt to fill as many seats as humanly possible.

And when DAZN are securing the global broadcasting rights with zero contest from any other platform, that tells you everything you need to know about the interest in this tournament.

A $1bn bid (despite no competition) was launched to secure the rights, before Saudi Arabia conveniently brought a 10% stake in DAZN for the same fee of $1bn.

DAZN then concluded its FIFA TV rights deal, while FIFA awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia to complete the three-way partnership.

With the FIFA Club World Cup being upgraded from a seven-team tournament to a 32-team tournament and taking place in the United States of America, this plain-Jane competition serves as a frightening foreshadowing of the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup that will also be hosted in the USA, alongside Canada and Mexico.

It’s a sign of the times that for the third consecutive edition, the host nation(s) of the World Cup will be shrouded in controversies unrelated to football itself.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia was marred by allegations of corruption, concerns surrounding the high levels of racism prevalent in Russian football, questions surrounding their LGBT discrimination, and the Russo-Ukrainian War.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar brought fresh waves of the same problems, with human rights issues, climate concerns, alleged corruption, and limited football history casting a dark cloud over the tournament.

The security of fans, the safety of women, the lack of LGBT rights, and the treatment of migrant workers saw plenty of calls to boycott the tournament long before the first ball was kicked.

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America, concerns are rising around the United States’ new immigration enforcement policies.

Human rights concerns in recent weeks have cast shadows of doubt over next year’s competition, and labour rights concerns have raised questions in Mexico.

Since the tournament started earlier this week, the most recent complaints from the players have surrounded the current climate, with intense summer heat and midday sunshine providing no comfort for an already exhausted group of players.

An underwhelming first round of games concluded with Juventus’ 5-0 win over Al Ain.

Fans got to watch Bayern Munich destroy a bunch of part-time footballers from New Zealand, we were treated to three 0-0 draws, and PSG battered a sunburnt Atletico Madrid under 31°C heat at the Rose Bowl at midday.

Fans weren’t allowed to bring water bottles into the stadium, and the lines to purchase water were over 45 minutes long.

But hey, at least Boca Juniors vs Benfica was entertaining.

These early kickoffs under the scorching hot American summer sun are something both players and supporters will have to adjust to ahead of next year’s World Cup.

With 35 of the 63 games taking place prior to 5pm local time, it’s a grim and dangerous sign for what’s to come in 2026. If the lengthy VAR checks were a burden in the last edition of the FIFA World Cup, expect plenty of cooling breaks to halt the momentum next year.

This, too, begs questions of the environmental sustainability of next year’s World Cup, with the 48-team expanded tournament taking place across 16 cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Back in 2021, FIFA delivered a Climate Strategy Report at the UN Climate Change Conference, where they pledged to reduce their carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.

With 80 games now taking place in the next World Cup, there will no doubt be a significant increase in carbon emissions.

In a growing catalogue of decisions that emphasise business over football, the FIFA Club World Cup feels more like an EA FC promo than a real tournament of any substance.

Not even the fact that it’s hosted once every four years takes away from the fact that it’s a totally unnecessary competition designed to generate revenue for FIFA while ensuring today’s already overworked footballers get absolutely zero rest in what is supposed to be their off-season.

Injuries and fatigue have already caused countless issues as most top-level clubs compete in up to five different competitions per season; now add a UEFA Nations League to the fold alongside World Cup Qualifiers, and for good measure, a Club World Cup that nobody asked for.

It’s a recipe for disaster and adds benefits neither the fans nor the footballers.