With more questions than answers, FIFA's marquee club tournament set to kick off in the U.S. in 2025
The Club World Cup just nine months away, and – surprisingly – no one seems to know how, exactly, it will all happen. FIFA's annual tournament, a gathering of the best clubs around the world, has been revamped, renewed and expanded.
And the venue for this edition is perhaps the most relevant in recent memory. Next summer, 32 teams will gather in the United States, as part of the two-year run up to the 2026 World Cup. What started with Copa America in terms of a transcendent period of growth for soccer in the U.S. – Copa overall was an immense success in terms of fan attendance and national interest, despite some troublesome off-the-pitch incidents – will continue with a club tournament that organizers hope will further ignite soccer passion in North America.
Still, at this point, there are more questions than answers. Stadium locations were finally revealed Saturday at an event in New York. Beyond that, FIFA has struggled to secure a TV rights deal for a revamped tournament it has pushed so hard to formulate.
With player concerns about welfare and number of games running in juxtaposition to the inevitable interest in some of the world's biggest clubs competing on a continent with an ever-expanding soccer appetite, this marquee event is … well, at the present, it's all just uncertain.
GOALWhat to get excited about
On Sept. 4, the logo first dropped on Instagram. The ubiquitous soccer tune "Freed From Desire" served as the soundrack as a golden circular emblem faded into the picture over a blank screen. It looked compelling, modern, angular.
Soon after, the logo was broadcast above Times Square in New York, and posted all over FIFA's social media. It came with a cool tagline, too: "Take it to the world." And watching the video, seeing the logo, it was hard not to feel a rush of excitement. The Club World Cup is a competition that has come under immense scrutiny from fans, players and coaches alike over it's existence. But the reality is, for the 2025 edition, 32 of the best teams in the world will be playing in the United States.
Of the participants, 12 are from Europe, with Real Madrid and Manchester City – and global stars such as Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland – serving as the headliners. But Milan, PSG, Bayern Munich and Chelsea will also be present. There are fan bases to tap into in the U.S. Domestically, the Seattle Sounders are set to represent MLS, with a likely wild-card addition of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, and there will undoubtedly be interest for Liga MX sides Monterrey, Leon and Pachuca.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger perhaps summarized it best: "In Europe we are lucky," he said last year, "but it's important that we make football really global and this creates a chance for other clubs to progress, this is the real target."
AdvertisementGettyStadiums finally announced
Yet there remain issues. For all of the optimism, some crucial questions are yet to be answered in full. First is where, exactly, this tournament is going to take place? That was finally settled on Saturday when – just nine months before the start of the tournament – FIFA announced the venues during the Global Citizen music festival in New York. These are the venues announced by FIFA president Gianni Infantino:
The Rose Bowl, Los Angeles
Lumen Field, Seattle
Camping World Stadium, Orlando
Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
GEODIS Park, Nashville
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati
Audi Field, Washington
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
But that timing is still tight. The tournament begins June 15 and the final will take place on July 13 at MetLife Stadium.
And there are admitted concerns as to the tournament running concurrently with the Gold Cup. The CONCACAF tournament revealed its grounds on Wednesday, with a west-coast heavy slate. There seems to be something resembling geographic alignment here, despite the two west coast venues for the Club World Cup.
(C)Getty ImagesPlayer welfare
Rodri was unfortunate enough to describe it best. The Manchester City midfielder, less than a week before suffering a season-ending ACL tear, speculated that players might go on strike due to a packed fixture list.
"I think we are close to that, it is easy to understand," he said in a press conference. "I think it's something general. I think if you ask any player he will say the same, it is not the opinion of Rodri or whatever. I think it's the general opinion of the players. And if it remains this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option, I really think but let's see. I don't know what's going to happen but it's something that worries us because we are the guys that suffer."
He might just have a point. This will be the busiest season on record for those playing in the Club World Cup. If Man City reach their previous heights in the Champions League, domestic club competitions, and Club World Cup, they could play more than 80 games.
Rotation exists, of course, but Rodri admitted that "40-50" games is probably the optimal number for a professional to operate at a high level throughout an entire campaign.
This isn't just a European problem. MLS, with the addition of an expanded Leagues Cup in 2023, is seeing its schedule get busier. Meanwhile, additional competitions in South America have only increased demands on players.
The Club World Cup itself will add to the concern. The 32 teams will be split into eight groups, and will play each other once each. The top two will advance to a standard knockout stage format. To win the tournament, a club will have to play seven games, all while dealing with what could be fairly extensive travel across the U.S.
Players unions have made their feelings heard, too. The English, French and Italian football associations have filed a joint complaint against FIFA based concerns about pushing players past their limits. Meanwhile, global player's union FIFPro, is also threatening legal action.
Getty ImagesWhy some clubs might like it
As ever, though, there is incentive to participate, and to win. For some time, there was a perception that this competition was merely a collection of glorified friendlies. In 2019, then-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made his feelings clear about the tournament shortly before the semifinal: "You cannot just add on tournaments. It doesn’t work. FIFA doesn’t like I say it – sorry – but it is my opinion and my opinion has to be right sometimes, because I think about football all day.”
Yet there are undoubted financial incentives for those involved. Man City reportedly made $5 million from their win in 2023. With more teams, potential revenues are expected to grow, according to The Athletic.
Napoli club president Aurelio De Laurentiis voiced his disappointment after a Champions League loss to Barcelona last season; not because his team had been bumped from Europe's top competition – rather, they would miss out on the potential earnings that could come with a Club World Cup campaign. He even speculated that Juventus – who had qualified ahead of them – should be removed from the competition due to their financial breaches that had them removed from European competition in 2024.
"But I also think that Napoli should go anyway, precisely because if Juventus have been punished by UEFA with elimination from the European cups, they shouldn’t even be admitted to the Club World Cup, even though such an event will create a thousand problems for us in the next national championship," De Laurentiis said.