When the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) opened on Saturday, Lionel Messi, arguably the world’s greatest footballer, weaved his magic on the field as a cluster of former stars – David Beckham, Ronaldo, Kaka, Bebeto, Roberto Baggio and Javier Zanetti – watched on from their VIP seats at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
While Messi was unable to score any goals in Inter Miami’s 0-0 draw against Egyptian club Al Ahly, football fans turned up in their thousands to watch the Argentinian lead his team in what could have been a goal-fest for the home side.
The organisers, led by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, appeared pleased with the tournament opener and would have hoped for the goals, spectators and popularity to increase as the Club World Cup progressed.
Infantino has treated the tournament as his personal project and aimed to bring the biggest names in football to the United States, one of the co-hosts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
From Inter Miami’s inclusion in the CWC under a special ‘host nation’ spot for the regular-season winners of MLS (other football continents had different entry criteria for qualification), to Infantino’s widely-reported comment that Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo “might play in the Club World Cup”, and increasing the winner’s prize money by a whopping $35m, the FIFA chief has pulled out all the stops to support his claim that this competition is “the start of something historic that will change our sport for the better,” as he said earlier this week.
However, three days in, the CWC, billed by FIFA as the most elite global club competition, has yet to match the pre-tournament hype created by the sport’s governing body.
Here’s the key talking points after the opening 72 hours at the Club World Cup:
Questionable match scheduling amid player burnout concerns
Kickoffs scheduled at noon and 3pm local time on scorching hot summer days have led to players dealing with difficult weather conditions in some fixtures.
In Sunday’s PSG vs Atletico group match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the temperature was recorded at 31 degrees Celsius (87.8 Fahrenheit) shortly after kick-off at midday local time.
PSG coach Luis Enrique said the heat “had an impact on the game.”
“The rhythm of our play was a bit lower than usual,” Enrique said in a post-match interview.
“We did very very well in difficult conditions,” PSG midfielder Vitinha said.
Every team at the FIFA Club World Cup plays three group matches in the space on nine days.
While that schedule in itself is not unusual for an international competition, the CWC has been subject to criticism from players’ unions long before the first kick of the opening game, as it comes off the back of a long domestic and international season in Europe and the Middle East for many clubs, while others – from the US, South America and Oceania – have hit pause on their regular seasons and will return to their respective leagues after the Club World Cup.
“The decision to schedule the FIFA Club World Cup between June 15 and July 13 without implementing further player workload safeguards demonstrates a lack of consideration for the mental and physical health of participating players, as well as a disregard for their personal and family lives,” FIFPRO – the global union representing professional football players – said in a statement when the tournament schedule was released in 2024.
“The extreme mental and physical pressures at the pinnacle of the game is the principal concern of players with multiple club and national team competitions, leading to exhaustion, physical injuries, mental health issues, diminished performance, and risks to career longevity,” the statement added.
FIFPRO called for the consideration of player health and safety regulations as a “matter of urgency” but that failed to deter FIFA from tinkering with the schedule.
FIFA says the protection of player welfare has always been at the core of its decision-making and has taken multiple tangible initiatives – many of them in close cooperation with FIFPRO, according to FIFA’s press office – for the effective betterment of player welfare on several levels, including an additional player substitution at Club World Cup matches as well as a concussion substitute.
On heat management for players during CWC fixtures, FIFA will enact cooling breaks in the 30th and 75th minutes if the wet bulb globe temperature exceeds 32°C (89.6°F), according to FIFA’s pre-existing international tournament guidelines.
Will there be more one-sided matches?
Bayern Munich made history at the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday as they became the first team to score double digits in a single game when they thumped Auckland City, a club made up of semi-pro players with full-time day jobs, 10-0.
The 34-time German champions, fielding a full-strength team, scored four goals in the first 21 minutes of the game in front of a hapless Auckland defence.
Add to it the fact that the fixture seemed more of a practice outing than a challenge for the Bundesliga side, with Bayern coach Vincent Kompany saying: “The next game against Boca Juniors will be the highlight of the group stage.”
While minnows and favourites are often pitted together in global tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup, Auckland City – the Oceania champions and rated 4,957th in the world in the Opta Power Rankings – face strong opposition in their remaining group matches.
After losing to sixth-ranked Bayern Munich, they face 24th-ranked Portuguese side Benfica and Argentinian mega club Boca Juniors, who are ranked 131.
The next-lowest ranked clubs – Al Ain, Urawa Reds, Wydad Casablanca and Ulsan HD – are due to play their opening round matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Empty stadiums and low-ticket sales
While Messi-mania brought the crowds in the tournament opener in Miami on June 14, and European champions PSG thrashed Atletico Madrid in front of 80,000 Los Angeles fans at the famous Rose Bowl a day later, the same cannot be said for some of the other fixtures in the opening three days.
Monday’s Chelsea vs LAFC encounter at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was played out in front of 22,137 spectators – less than one-third of the stadium’s 75,000 seat capacity.
Post-match, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, when asked to describe the atmosphere in Atlanta, said: “I think the environment was a bit strange.”
The Chelsea-LAFC encounter was not the only fixture to experience a low turnout.
On Monday, a Group C match between Flamengo and Esperance de Tunis attracted 25,797 fans to Philadelphia’s 69,000-seat Lincoln Financial Field, representing a 37.4% attendance rate.
A Group B match on Sunday between Botafogo and Seattle Sounders, played at the 69,000-seat Lumens Field in Seattle, drew 30,151 spectators, or 43.7% of maximum spectator capacity, according to official match figures.
Also on Sunday, the 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium, the venue for the FIFA Club World Cup final, was filled with 46,275 fans for the Group A clash between Palmeiras and Porto, representing 56.1% of the arena’s maximum spectator capacity.
Of the remaining 36 group-stage games, 13 will be weekday afternoon kickoffs and it remains to be seen whether underwhelming ticket sales at some venues will continue throughout the first phase of the tournament.
FIFA has disclosed that fans from more than 130 countries have booked tickets to attend CWC matches and the organisation said on Tuesday that close to 1.5 million tickets had been sold.
