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When members of the FIFA Council, led by the UEFA president Ceferin, walked out during FIFA’s congress in anger, because Gianni Infantino (FIFA President) was meeting with world leaders (specifically Trump) instead of attending the Council, the world saw that some tension existed between the 2 governing sport bodies. To double down, UEFA then publicly lamented Infantino for ‘disrupting the timetable “to accommodate private political interests.
The feud dates back. In 2020, Ceferin warned of Infantino’s remarks to review the club football calendar: ‘no football administrator, no matter the size of his ego, should think we are the stars of the show’. UEFA also believed that FIFA had prior knowledge of the famed European Super League that would have ousted UEFA’s importance. FIFA denies this.
Now, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. A strain on a team’s resources. An opportunity for FIFA to bring the best players in the world to the USA to increase viewership and revenue. 32 of the supposed ‘best teams in the world’ (Chelsea only qualified through winning the Champions League 4 years ago, I might add), will go against each other in what Infantino describes as the ‘most coveted’ trophy in world football.
The winner will receive £93.5 million; participation fees will range between $12.8million and $32.8m for European club. Yet, Infantino wanted a prize bigger than the UEFA Champions League winner’s rewards. He didn’t achieve this, yet the mere ambition encapsulates FIFA’s aim – to directly counter and rival UEFA.
It is widely felt that FIFA are attempting to intrude on UEFA’s European dominance on major club competitions. UEFA makes more than double of FIFA’s revenue, and there is no doubt that the Champions League is the holy grail for any club in the world.
There has no doubt, been a monopoly of European football on the world stage. European nations have won 4/5 of the last World Cups, and 16/17 of the last World Club Cups. When Infantino came to FIFA, he clearly wanted to rival this dominance and not solely rely on the revenues and the prestige that comes with the World Cup. Some may say that Infantino’s close relationship with Donald Trump, and his history in attempting to receive a $25 billion arrangement with SoftBank (backed by Japan and Saudi Arabia) to create a new global cup (like the Euro Nations League) and national team competitions, demonstrate these goals.
Portugal just won the Nations League, a UEFA project that happens when there is no World Cup or Euros. When it was suggested that the World Cup could become a biennial tournament, UEFA unequivocally opposed. UEFA want no part of what FIFA are trying to offer.
UEFA even partnered with CONMEBOL (the South American confederation) to create the Finalissima (winners of the Euros v winner of the Copa America). They have even shared an office space in London! With these facts, it is evident that UEFA are trying to mark down their territory. But FIFA then scored an equaliser…
More recently, CONMEBOL have smoothed relations with FIFA and secured the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil in 2027 and asked to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams to honour the 100 year anniversary. They have already managed to get more games in South America for that tournament, despite it already being hosted by Portugal, Spain and Morocco! CONMEBOL’s HQ have even dedicated a tower in Infantino’s name.
So, we can see that the dynamic is changing. Infantino truly believes that growth potential in football will come from outside Europe. His strong links with the Middle East and the USA characterises this – he wants to grow the global football GDP to half a trillion dollars a year.
Let’s see what this iteration of the Club World Cup brings, and the impact that it may have on these tensions. But in my opinion, I can see this blowing up.