FIFA president Gianni Infantino
A little-loved member of FIFA’s family of soccer tournaments for so long, the latest Club World Cup starts today as a seven-team event two years after that format was due to have been abolished and two years before an ambitious revamp with up to 32 teams.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has wanted since being elected to lead soccer’s world governing body in 2016 to create a bigger and better version of its only club tournament, an event he once valued at potentially worth $3 billion per edition promising tens of millions in prize money for each team.
Until a major overhaul — likely in 2025 after the European season — FIFA goes year-to-year with the smaller mid-season version of the intercontinental championship that barely adds to its multi-billion dollar income.
FIFA will pay $5 million of a $16 million total prize fund to the winner next week, likely to be Real Madrid on a brief, two-game visit to Morocco that could start with a semifinal against the Seattle Sounders. The champion of Europe has won 14 of the 15 titles since 2007.
The tournament’s shifting place in a congested global soccer calendar was shown by FIFA confirming Morocco as host just six weeks ago.
That decision was taken in Qatar on the day Infantino targeted 2025 for the first 32-team club event — “making it really like a World Cup,” he said in Doha.
The timing surprised some soccer officials in Europe who see FIFA’s ambitions in club soccer threatening their domestic leagues and the globally popular, hugely lucrative Champions League. Before going to FIFA, Infantino was the UEFA general secretary overseeing the Champions League and knows exactly the appeal and value of staging top-level clubs.
Infantino quickly identified in 2016 two FIFA events for men’s continental champions that had limited appeal nor value, because broadcast and sponsor rights are currently bundled with the World Cup. MDT/AP
