CLUB WORLD CUP
FIFA’s inaugural Club World Cup set to kick off in the US amid challenges
FIFA’s billion-dollar gamble to revolutionise club football begins a week on Sunday with plenty of cash up for grabs but questionable enthusiasm as 32 teams prepare to contest the expanded Club World Cup in 12 stadiums across the United States.
The tournament – designed as a glittering showcase ahead of the 2026 World Cup – has had to contend with the prospect of empty seats along with controversial qualification rules and player welfare concerns after an exhausting European season.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami face Egypt’s Al Ahly in the opening fixture on June 15 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, with tickets still widely available days before kickoff.
A glance at FIFA’s website shows lots of tickets available, including for the July 13 final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
Messi’s presence underscores the tournament’s contentious foundations.
Inter Miami gained entry by topping Major League Soccer’s regular season standings, despite losing in the first round of the playoffs – a decision critics say shows FIFA’s desperation to have the Argentina great at their inaugural showpiece.
FIFA’s decision to give the host nation a spot and award it to Inter Miami underlined the opaque nature of the qualifying criteria for the tournament, which won’t feature Liverpool, Barcelona or Napoli who have all just been crowned champions of three of the most prestigious leagues in Europe.
Apart from the winners of each confederation’s premier club competitions, teams qualified according to a ranking based on their performances over a four-year period.
There is also the case of Club Leon, the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners, who were excluded from the tournament just over a month ago due to having shared ownership with another qualifier. The spot has gone to MLS’s Los Angeles FC.
RIGHTS DEAL
Nailing down a last-gasp $1 billion TV rights deal with sports streaming platform DAZN six months before the tournament means a total of $2 billion in expected revenues.
That led FIFA to announce a total prize pot of $1 billion, with the winning club to receive up to $125 million.
That figure represents 25% more than Paris St Germain earned from their entire 17-match Champions League campaign.
But this largesse has not quelled concerns about player welfare, with the global players union FIFPro taking legal action against FIFA over a tournament that further compresses the precious recovery time between gruelling seasons.
Furthermore there is still concern over the playing surfaces after last season’s Copa America, when many headlines focused on the sub-par conditions and smaller pitch dimensions.
Those pitches, measuring 100 by 64 metres, were 740 square metres smaller than FIFA’s standard size, prompting widespread discontent among players and coaches.
FIFA has given assurances that this time the NFL stadiums hosting the matches will meet their specifications, confirming that all venues will feature natural grass and adhere to the standard regulation dimensions of 105 by 68 metres.
Divided into eight groups of four teams, top contenders include Real Madrid, winners of six of the last 12 Champions League titles, plus German champions Bayern Munich and 2023 Premier League and Champions League winners Manchester City.
European champions Paris St Germain are the in-form team heading into the tournament after their historic 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday.
But they must survive a tough Group B featuring South American and Brazilian champions Botafogo and 2024 CONCACAF winners Seattle Sounders plus Spanish giants Atletico Madrid.
Whether you call it soccer or football, for FIFA the tournament represents a dress rehearsal and a referendum on America’s appetite for the sport and on the world governing body’s vision for its commercial future ahead of the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
-Reuters
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From multiple sources, speculations are rife that the Moroccan side, Wydad Casablanca, intends to secure the services of the Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the Club World Cup holding in the US.
The club has just announced the departure of their head coach, Rhulani Mokwena, by mutual agreement.
One source, Marca, a Spanish publication, reports that the Casablanca club would like to enlist Cristiano to strengthen its chances at the Club World Cup (June 14-July 13). “The desire of the leaders of one of the four African representatives at the Club World Cup,” the Spanish media outlet specifies, “is to count on the Portuguese for the tournament, given the sporting and social appeal” generated by CR7’s presence.
At Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s season ended on a bad note. In addition to being eliminated in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League, the “Tigers” are on the verge of missing out on the next edition. “This would represent a step backwards for Cristiano Ronaldo,” adds the author of the article.
Even on FIFA’s side, Cristiano Ronaldo’s presence at the Club World Cup would mean a significant boost for the Club World Cup, alongside Lionel Messi, who is competing with Inter Miami.
This recruitment, if it materializes, would represent a dream promotion for the Casablanca team.
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Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich handed the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires on Monday a list of 15,000 violent football fans who will be banned from stadiums during the upcoming Club World Cup.
The newly-expanded tournament, to be held on U.S. soil from June 14 to July 13, will feature Argentine clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate, as well as 30 other teams from around the world.
“The list includes more than 15,000 people who will be banned from stadiums. For us, this is extremely important because no violent person who has committed any crime in Argentine stadiums will be able to attend this sporting event,” Bullrich told reporters.
The list was compiled through the “Tribuna Segura” programme, a tool that allows the detection of people banned from Argentine stadiums.
“Since the beginning of this government, ‘Tribuna Segura’ has monitored more than 4 million people in 1,328 matches. We have detected 1,166 people with arrest warrants and have issued more than 40 administrative resolutions restricting entry to stadiums,” Bullrich added.
Boca Juniors are in Group C with Bayern Munich, Auckland City and Benfica, while River are in Group E with Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey and Inter Milan.
-Reuters
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CLUB WORLD CUP
Referees’ body cameras will provide fans with unprecedented views of on-field action, says FIFA
FIFA unveiled its team of 117 match officials, opens new tab on Monday for the inaugural Club World Cup and said referees would wear body cameras and enforce stricter goalkeeper time-wasting rules at the tournament to be staged across the United States.
The FIFA Referees Committee appointed the officials from 41 member associations – 35 referees, 58 assistant referees and 24 video match officials – for the June 14 to July 13 event.
Body cameras will provide fans with unprecedented views of on-field action, FIFA said, while goalkeepers who hold the ball beyond eight seconds will now see opponents awarded corner kicks rather than indirect free kicks.
“We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision, which was never offered before,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee.
“It also has a purpose in terms of referee coaching because, of course, having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing.”
Collina highlighted the historic nature of the appointments for the expanded tournament featuring 32 teams from all six FIFA confederations and spanning 12 stadiums in 11 U.S. host cities.
“The selected referees are among those who have the privilege to be part of this for the first time, so I’m sure that all the match officials will be thrilled,” he said.
“We are coming from high-standard performances delivered during the last FIFA tournaments. So the bar is higher and when you set the bar higher it’s more difficult to keep the standard. But we are working very hard and ‘Team One’ will make a solid contribution to the success of this exciting competition.”
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