The Club World Cup, was it a success, or a reminder to FIFA that fans will always have the final say?
Gianni Infantino has hailed the competition a huge success. Jurgen Klopp said ‘The Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football’. This competition has enhanced the relationship between Infantino and Trump, FIFA and the US/Saudi Arabia, and has narrowed the soccer/football debate. Infantino has moved into Trump tower (the new FIFA office in the US), yet was the tournament what he promised it to be?
Chelsea went home with $114 million; their prize for winning the FIFA Club World Cup. Fluminese, a Brazilian team, went home with £60 mil, and even a semi-pro team from New Zealand, Aukland FC, went home with nearly 5 million dollars. Financially – a success.
Attendances were low. He promised 63 super bowls in one month, but some games attracted merely 3,412 spectators. We don’t yet know the complete picture as to viewership – Infantino predicted 3 billion spectators… PSG, City and Bayern all played at least one match with more than 30,000 empty seats! Four games failed to get 10,000 fans. The average attendance of 38,369, below that of any World Cup since 1962. Ticket prices were arbitrary; weeks before they were near $500 for some tickets, and on the day of the games, they fell to $13. Fan sentiment – a failure.
The players are absolutely knackered, with many fans commentating on whether this tournament was at all necessary. Even Sepp Blatter said ‘there was too much football’. Trent Alexander Arnold complained of the heat, with Chelsea’s match against Benfica ended four hours and 38 minutes after it started due to awful weather. Cucurella has played nonstop football from winning the Euros with Spain last summer, to now winning the Club World Cup with Chelsea. The football calendar is already completely stacked, and this has added to it. Look at Jamal Musiala’s awful injury – he is now out for a while and this could have been completely avoided. Player sentiment – a failure.
The football was somewhat entertaining in the latter rounds, PSG’s dismantling of Real Madrid, City losing to Al Hilal, the final. And finally, what happened to the normal rules of a football match that we know and love?? Each starting player were called out one by one to the pitch, countdowns to kick off and music played at every interval. A ref cam was used, and the final had a super bowl-esque half time show! The game is gone!
Overall verdict? You tell me…