Whatever you want to say about FIFA President Gianni Infantino - and a lot can be said - there is unanimity that he has a way with words.
Especially superlatives.
On the eve of the final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, Infantino said “we can say definitely that this FIFA Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success” (the man speaks like Donald Trump!)
Infantino also triumphantly declared the Club World Cup to be “the most successful club competition in the world”.
But was the CWC, which was staged in the US for the first time, really that good?
We’ll tackle that later. First, though, Sunday’s final.
Cole Palmer scored twice and assisted on a third to inspire Chelsea to a stunning defeat of European champions PSG to win the first edition of the newly expanded Club World Cup.
The England attacking midfielder scored twice in almost identical fashion in the 22nd and 30th minutes and set up a third goal for new signing Joao Pedro who chipped goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 43rd in a comprehensive 3-0 win over favourites PSG at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
PSG finished a man short after João Neves was given a red card in the 84th minute for pulling down Marc Cucurella by his hair. After a testy final few minutes in a game with six yellow cards, the teams needed to be separated at the end as PSG coach Luis Enrique and Donnarumma pushed João Pedro near the center circle.
It was the biggest upset of the tournament. Although Chelsea eliminated Benfica as well as Brazilian duo Palmeiras and Fluminense in the knockout rounds to reach the final, PSG reached the final after manhandling Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals. PSG were spellbinding at times, also putting four goals past Atletico Madrid and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami during the competition. They also beat Bayern 2-0. Note that all the scores on the right side of PSG games ended with zero.
But they were given a taste of their own medicine against Chelsea and were no match for them, especially against Palmer, 23, who earned the Golden Ball as the top player in the tournament.
The Blues earned as much as $153 million in prize money, the amount depending on a participation fee FIFA has not disclosed.
Among the 81,118 people in attendance - the biggest of the tournament - was US President Donald Trump, who sat alongside Infantino.
The new-look competition featured 32 teams — expanded from seven — and was staged through June and July. It will be played on a four-yearly basis instead of annually.
It will be something of a dress rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup in the US, with five of the venues - Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, MetLife Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field and Lumen Field - also hosting matches next year.
The CWC had a prize pot of $1bn to give out to the 32 competing clubs, with $525m divided between all clubs for participation and $475m awarded on a performance-related basis.
European clubs were handed between $12.81m and $38.19m just for turning up, while teams from other continents were given a set fee - that was $15.21m for South America, $9.55m for North and Central America, and Asia and Africa, and $3.58m for Oceania.
There was more good news, this one for soccer fans, in the fact that the tournament was held during the offseason, giving football lovers an extra 63 games to enjoy.
But there have been issues, including sparse crowds for many group games, hot weather, threat of lightning stoppages, fields that one coach said were better suited for a round of golf than a match at the Club World Cup, and player fatigue - and what the knock-on effects could be.
The CWC went ahead against the backdrop of legal challenges in Europe, strike threats and repeated concerns over the mental and physical welfare of players due to too many games.
We will not know for several months how much of an impact the CWC could have. Many players involved have not had any break yet, with last season leading straight into international fixtures, which led straight into the Club World Cup.
It means many top players face the prospect of offseason tournaments in three out of every four years going forward, with the Club World Cup sandwiched between the men’s World Cup for national teams, the European Championship, the Copa America and the Africa Cup of Nations.
Not for naught, Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez said that “for people who come to the stadium to enjoy it, and for those watching at home, the pace of play is not the same; it slows everything down.”
Attendance-wise, four matches failed to get 10,000 fans, with the lowest the 3,412 who watched Mamelodi Sundowns beat Ulsan HD 1-0.
But there were 15 crowds of 60,000 or more, and there were 80,619 who saw PSG beat Atletico Madrid 4-0 in Pasadena.
Real Madrid drew at least 60,000 for all five of its matches, including 76,611 for its quarter-final win over Borussia Dortmund in New Jersey.
Most of the highest attendances were at games involving PSG or Real Madrid, and the majority of knockout games were well attended.
Despite more than a million empty seats after the group stage due to the selection of stadiums that were larger than the interest, the average attendance of nearly 39,000 was just a few hundred below the Premier League last season.
But the average attendance was also below that of any World Cup since Chile 1962.
FIFA was forced to cut standard ticket prices for the semi-final between Chelsea and Fluminense at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to $13.40 from $473.90.
FIFA had dropped ticket prices to $11.15 for a quarter-final in Orlando, Florida, between Fluminense and Al Hilal, and in Philadelphia between Chelsea and Palmeiras.
The low attendances were the result of kick-off times (many were in the middle of a weekday during working hours), ticket prices, hot weather and concerns from some immigrants - who make up the bulk of audiences in the US - that games would be raided by the authorities.
The group stages were sluggish, with mismatched games like Bayern Munich 10 Auckland City 0.
For example, the BBC Sport live pages had between 40% and 50% of the audience they would normally get for the Champions League equivalent.
TV viewing numbers were hard to come by. The matches were shown on DAZN for free but DAZN has not revealed viewing figures.
The CWC had its gimmicks, some of which fell flat. The Superior Player of the Match, selected by public vote which was open between minutes 60 and 88 via FIFA+, is just another way of saying Man of the Match or MVP.
The 22 starting players were called out one by one on the loudspeaker, as they do in the NBA for example, instead of all running out together.
There were Super Bowl-like half-time shows, loud countdowns to kick-off and music played during cooling breaks.
Video assistant referee (VAR) decisions were shown in the stadium. As in previous FIFA tournaments, the on-pitch referee communicated VAR decisions - and the reasons for them - to supporters in the stadium. For the first time, fans at the match were able to see the replays the officials are being shown.
A ‘ref cam’ showed footage from referees’ bodycams during the game. But the pictures were shaky and blurry and viewers saw mainly grass.
An eight-second rule for goalkeepers kept the matches moving.
Having said all this, “the golden age of club football has started. We can definitely say this FIFA Club World Cup has been a huge success,” Infantino told reporters at Trump Tower on New York City’s Fifth Avenue, where FIFA has just opened an office (no wonder Infantino speaks like Trump, or is it vice versa?)
“We heard that financially it would not work, that nobody is interested, but I can say we generated almost $2.1 billion in revenues, for 63 matches,” Infantino said.
“That makes an average of $33 million per match -- no other club competition in the world comes close.
“It is already the most successful club competition in the world.”
But what does that mean besides the enormous cash prizes? What are the metrics for success? The best played, the biggest, the richest, the most watched? “The best” is often what you hear from Trump in his narrow vocabulary. So too Infantino who three years ago hailed the concluded World Cup in Qatar as “the best World Cup ever”. The 2022 World Cup might have had the best final, between Argentina and France, but it’s highly debatable the tournament was “the best” ever.
Superlatives are a form of comparison. It’s easy to call the Club World Cup “the most successful” because there is almost no other global football club competition to compare with. There is only the FIFA Intercontinental Cup which is even less popular.
And what time frame is Infantino using? Is the CWC the most successful club tournament this year or this month or in history? And is he referring to only football but all of sports?
The truth is that the Club World Cup, whether in its long or short form, has always been divisive, cheered and jeered alike by many. It never really took off, odd considering that club fans are more passionate about their teams than fans of countries.
Critics call the new CWC an Infantino “vanity project”. France’s union of professional soccer players launched a scathing attack on the competition, saying it is “urgent to stop this massacre” amid ongoing concerns about extreme player workloads.
Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp referred to the CWC as the “worst idea ever implemented in football”.
But Infantino dismissed suggestions that Klopp might be speaking for most observers in Europe.
“We shouldn’t say that the opinion of Europe on this is very bad because it is not true.”
Infantino also said the best clubs in the world were playing in the tournament.
But that is not entirely accurate.
There are many world-class clubs who were not invited. Liverpool were left out despite winning the Premier League, the most popular league in the world, by a country mile.
Reason? Clubs were chosen according to accrued points over the past four seasons, based on their performances in their continental club competitions.
The qualifying criteria were also based on winners of continental trophies in the four years prior to the tournament, but not including the season directly before it.
That’s why PSG, perennial kings of Ligue 1, were chosen - not because they won the Champions League two months ago.
That’s why Chelsea — Champions League winner in 2021 — had a seat at the table despite finishing fourth in the Premier League.
That’s why Barcelona and Napoli -- champions of Spain and Italy, respectively, were not invited.
No place either for current Asian champion Ahly from Saudi Arabia or Pyramids — the African champion from Egypt.
Speaking of Egypt, lest we forget, Egypt’s Ahly were in this tournament but were ousted from the group stage with only two points.
In a way, Ahly did themselves in. In the opener against Inter Miami, Mahmoud Trezeguet could not convert a penalty and flubbed its rebound. Against Palmeiras, Ahly striker Wessam Abou Ali guided a beautifully sliced header - into his own net. And in game three against Porto, Ahly scored four goals but could only tie. Ahly were ahead in that game four times: 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 but still could not finish Porto off.
For the record, the coin toss in the opener was dropped and needed a redo, getting a laugh from the two captains.
Also, Ahly’s first and third games were played at 3am and 4am Cairo time respectively.
In addition, Infantino urged Ahly supporters to attend, saying in Arabic “yalla shabab” (come on guys).
Although Ahly did not go far in the tournament, by just securing a place, the club guaranteed $9.55 million appearance fees.
Meanwhile, in the face of criticism from unions, as an increased focus on player welfare has been leading to calls for mandatory rest periods and a greater emphasis on player safety during matches, FIFA says several players’ representative groups and the sport’s governing body had reached a consensus on the need for a period of rest of 72 hours between matches, and agreed that players should have a minimum of 21 days of holidays at the end of each season.
It was unclear, though, whether the consensus would lead to a binding agreement since FIFPRO, the sport’s global players’ union, did not take part in the discussions.
The next Club World Cup is due to take place in 2029, with Infantino refusing to commit when asked whether the tournament could be played every two years or be expanded to feature more teams.
However, knowing Infantino and his fondness for the more the merrier, a more expanded Club World Cup to 48 teams – like next Year’s World Cup - is well within the realm of possibility.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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