Staff Writer Isabel Moon-Parry explores the conclusion of the newly formatted 2025 Club World Cup, a tournament never far from criticism and debate.
Chelsea have now been crowned World Champions, definitively the best team in the world and they now claim the total prize pot of $115.625m.
The Club World Cup in its latest iteration has now concluded, having changed from a annual knockout competition with each confederations continental winner to a quadrennial 32 team, World Cup-style tournament. The original format began in 2000, inspired by the Intercontinental Cup that had been played for 40 years between the best of Europe and South America.
The changes to an already lacklustre tournament that many fans in Europe did not consider a major trophy was criticised as a set of money grabbing pre-season matches taking place in half empty stadiums and the sweltering heat of the USA.
Mired by concerns over ICE raids, comments by President Trump, a first of its kind halftime show and the proclamation that the tournament generated $2bn in revenue by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino was FIFA’s great experiment a success or a spectacular failure?
The Least Wanted Broadcasting Rights in History
In the UK, select matches were broadcast for free on Channel 5, while all matches worldwide had been broadcast free-to-air by DAZN. However, it took until December 2024 for FIFA to agree a deal with DAZN to sell the rights to them for a massive $1bn.
This came after Gianni Infantino called an emergency meeting with TV executives to find a new broadcaster in September 2024. They had previously opened bids in July 2024 for TV rights covering the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East & North Africa, following a breakdown in talks between FIFA and Apple TV, but received no interested.
According to The Athletic, sources in the TV industry at the time stated that “FIFA’s financial expectations are wildly different to the value currently perceived by TV networks and streaming platforms.” Executives were particularly concerned over viewing interest in the tournament due to the fact that some of world football’s most attractive teams would not be present including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Barcelona.
Questions on how a business like DAZN that is making losses of around $1.1bn per year was able to afford the rights were answered clearly in February 2025, when Surj Sports Investment, the sporting arm of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), invested $1bn for a “single-digit” minority stake in the sports streamer. PIF itself has also been seen throughout the tournament as a sponsor following an agreement with FIFA in early June 2025.
Attendance Lows and Ticket Price Slashes
Before the tournament even began, there were concerns over attendance figures since FIFA began offering a package to students at local colleges in Miami for the opening match between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Egyptian side Al-Ahly in an attempt to entice locals to attend. The package included $20 tickets with the possibility of up to four complementary tickets effectively allowing students to attend for just $4 per ticket.
The first game ultimately saw an attendance at the Hard Rock Stadium of 60,297.
Ticket price slashes did not end there and continued into the latter stages of the tournament as prices for the semi-final clash between Chelsea and Brazilian side Fluminense saw ticket prices reduced from $473.90 to $13.40 at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The worst attended game of the tournament saw just 3,412 supporters at Orlando’s Inter&Co Stadium witness South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns as they beat South Korea’s Ulsan HD.
FIFA has since claimed that the attendances were a success, with the group stage of the tournament having attracted 1,667,819 fans in total with an average of 34,746 per game. However, it must be noted that the majority of the stadiums have capacities exceeding 60,000 seats with just four of the twelve stadiums having below 31,000 capacity. Due to this, with an average attendance of over 34,000 the majority of the stadiums have been half or near empty.
The Worst Idea in Football
Criticisms have been levied at the Club World Cup, one of the most notable was by Red Bull’s Head of Global Soccer, Jurgen Klopp. Klopp stated that “the Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football,” and warned that “I have serious fears, that players will suffer injuries they’ve never had before next season. If not next season, then it will happen at the World Cup or afterwards.”
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Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol hit back at Klopp for his comments, saying that “[l]et’s get real. If these clubs were not playing in these tournaments… they’d be coming to America for a pre-season tour, they’d be going to the Far East… Football is a business; it’s all about money now. If you don’t like it – don’t watch it.“
However, Klopp’s concerns aren’t about the money as Kaveh seems to imply. Instead, they are based on the reality that many players are concerned over the lack of rest time that they receive. Manchester City’s Rodri, who has recently returned from an ACL injury, stated that he felt players were close to striking in September 2024. Meanwhile, in October 2024, top European leagues and players’ union FIFPro announced a legal complaint against FIFA.
These injury fears were realised in finalist PSG’s quarter final clash with Bayern Munich as Bayern’s Jamal Musiala suffered a “fractured fibula as a result of a broken and dislocated ankle,” when he collided with PSG goalkeeper Donnarumma.
However, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, Arsène Wenger hit back against criticisms of the tournament by deflecting and saying that “I would say the quality of the tournament was exceptional. I visited many clubs, and for some clubs you could consider it [an] end-of-season feeling — it was not that at all. I was highly surprised.“
The Rise of the Americas (and the Saudi Pro League)
As Arsène Wenger said, it hasn’t all been doom and gloom for the tournament that has allowed clubs from around the world to showcase themselves globally. None more so than the representatives from North and South America while Saudi Pro League side, Al Hilal reached the quarter-finals.
Flamengo triumphing against Chelsea, Botafogo against PSG in the group stage and Fluminese advancing past Inter Milan in the Round of 16 were just some of the South American standout performances.
North American teams also put on a strong showing as a Messi inspired Inter Miami beat Porto to become the only US side in the Round of 16. Mexico’s Monterrey were also able to hold off UCL finalists Inter Milan to a 1-1 draw as they advanced to the Round of 16 where they were beaten by Borussia Dortmund.
One of the biggest upsets of the tournament came from Al Hilal as they defeated Manchester City 4-3 after extra time to advance to the quarter-finals. Al Hilal went on to fall out of the competition when they next came up against Fluminense. A team who had been the surprise package of the tournament as the Brazilians advanced to a semi-final clash with Chelsea.
ICE and Trump: American Politics at play in FIFA’s Flagship Tournament
“Let the games begin! The first FIFA Club World Cup games start on June 14th in Miami… CBP will be suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games,” were the words of the US Customer and Border Protection in a now deleted social media post as preparations were underway for the tournament at the start of June.
The agency later clarified that they would act as they “do with every major sporting event, including the Super Bowl. Our mission remains unchanged,” after an inquiry from the Associated Press regarding the post and what it meant for fans attending games.
Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigration Coalition, a non-profit calling for the fair treatment of immigrants, said “it’s sort of alluding that people should have their paperwork in order to attend the games. It creates an environment where people are less likely to come watch the games because of just sheer intimidation.”
But the post had already done the damage and caused travelling fans to worry about whether they could attend matches without fear of deportation or detention.
The tournament has also taken place amongst a backdrop of widespread anti-ICE protests across the country and the deployment of the National Guard and Marines by the Trump administration.
Infantino rather laxly responded by saying that “we are very attentive on any security question, of course the most important for us is to guarantee security for all the fans who come to the games, this is our priority.“
The FIFA President has used the tournament to build connections with the new Trump Administration ahead of next year’s World Cup, even unveiling the trophy inside the Oval Office. The original version of the trophy will remain there with Trump while a replica was awarded to Chelsea.
Ahead of Juventus’ first match of the tournament against UAE side, Al-Ain, the Italian side were invited to the White House and were present for one of Trump’s press conferences in the Oval Office.
Trump turned to the players while discussing trans athletes with reporters and asked them “Could a woman make your team, fellas?“. To which, American player Timothy Weah, son of former Liberian President and Africa’s only Ballon d’Or winner, George Weah, responded simply “Yeah.”
Weah then went on to say “I was kind of like, I just want to play football … They just told us that we have to go, and I had no choice but to go.”
The Show Stopper Finale
The final of the Club World Cup took place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which will also play host to the final of next year’s FIFA World Cup. The festivities began with a performance by Robbie Williams, accompanied by highlights of the tournament. Following this, the US national anthem was performed with the US Armed Forces parading flags as Donald Trump and Infantino looked on.
Cole Palmer opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 22nd minute and got his second in the 30th minute as Chelsea began to take control of the game. A third goal came for Chelsea from new signing Joao Pedro, who’d joined Chelsea partway through the tournament for £60m from Brighton, in the 43rd minute.
The final featured a first of its kind half-time show by J Balvin, Doja Cat, Tems, and Emmanuel Kelly that was preceded by an extremely sweaty Marc Cucurella giving a half-time interview.
Fan reactions to the half time show and entertainment were not exactly favourable.
PSG came out fighting in the second half but were ultimately unable to get a goal to get them back into the game. Things went from bad to worse for the Parisians as VAR recommended referee Alireza Faghani to hand João Neves a red card in the 85th minute for violent conduct after he pulled the hair of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.
There were scenes of jubilation and joy as the new World Champions Chelsea celebrated in front of their travelling fans in New Jersey after the full-time whistle. Cole Palmer, who also got the assist for Joao Pedro’s goal, was awarded with Superior Player of the Match for his performance in the final and was also given the Player of the Tournament award.
The presentation ceremony then began as Trump and Infantino entered the field to a smattering of applause and series of boos. Trump himself was present throughout the trophy lift which was criticised by both fans and players as both Infantino and Chelsea captain, Reece James, attempted to get him to leave.
And so, the curtains close on the Club World Cup for another four years. Where it will next be hosted is unknown, as well as the majority of teams that will feature in the tournament. The tournament has raised concerns over player welfare, the finances behind football and the relationship between FIFA and both the USA and Saudi Arabia but saw teams across the world raised to the forefront of people’s minds.
But just wait, if this tournament was your cup of tea then the old version of the Club World Cup, now called the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, will be back in December this year. Yes, we get to do this all over again, but this time in the middle of the season. Just like we did for the last 24 years. And guess what? We still don’t know where it will be played.
