David Yagudayev, Science and Technology Editor
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is going to be a massive tournament, featuring 32 teams and hosted across various cities in the United States. In previous years, the event featured only seven teams and was a much smaller tournament with fewer matches. This year will mark the new format’s first launch, which has the tournament hosted every four years as opposed to yearly. However, the event is not without its controversies.
The 32 teams range through the six FIFA confederations. In order to qualify, the teams are assessed on their performance in their domestic leagues and continental competitions from the previous four seasons. This year’s inclusive tournament will host notable powerhouse clubs such as Real Madrid CF (Spain) and Manchester City FC (England) as well as less known ones such as Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) and Wydad AC (Morocco). Major stars such as Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are also set to appear in the tournaments, as their teams, Inter Miami (USA) and Al-Nassr FC (Saudi Arabia), have qualified for the tournament.
However, many aspects of the event have affected fan interest, ticket prices and player welfare. Originally, FIFA set extremely high ticket prices in American stadiums. Sluggish sales and widespread criticism online have caused FIFA to decrease ticket prices. Despite the alterations in ticket prices, some fans are still very much concerned with affordability, accessibility and fairness of the ticket selling.
Many have raised concerns for the player’s health and insufficient recovery time. Players and coaches alike have objected to additional matches and fixtures in addition to the long regular season, special cup tournaments and international duties. Frequent games with little recovery time can lead to injuries which can potentially ruin a player’s season and possibly career.
However, not all players share this sentiment. Some players like Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich express eagerness to compete for the title. With such a tight schedule, it’s often very hard for clubs and players to carefully balance their competitive drive and health to avoid injury. Premier League champions Manchester City requested for the start of the next Premier League season to be slightly postponed due to the new FIFA club world cup. However, other teams in the league opposed this request. Adjusting the start of the season would have been impossible, according to the Premier Leagues Chief Football Officer Tony Scholes, due to the already packed calendar schedule.
Many state that players’ welfare is not taken into account, which can lead to serious ramifications for top players who often compete in exclusive prestigious tournaments as well as the long regular season. Others have accused FIFA of creating an opportunity for a cash grab by increasing the number of games, changing the format and hosting more teams in order to achieve an increase in profit.
Despite efforts by FIFA to generate excitement for this brand new format and the event in general, fan interest appears to be low when compared to parallel events such as the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Euros, CONMEBOL Copa America, and FIFA World Cup. Only time will tell how big of an impact the new format and marketing will actually have on this year’s tournament.
Photo Caption: The FIFA World Cup Trophy
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons