Despite the wishes of Gianni Infantino, the new Club World Cup launched by Fifa is struggling to convince. The lack of broadcasters willing to pay significant TV rights would even represent a risk when rewarding clubs with handsome bonuses.
What if the new Club World Cup format does not see the light of day? A few months before the first edition of the 32-a-side Club World Cup, between June 15 and July 13, 2025, the project led by Gianni Infantino and Fifa is struggling to appeal according to information from the newspaper The Team.
In addition to players’ fears about the overloaded schedule and clubs’ concerns, the competition would have difficulty attracting broadcasters. Particularly in Europe where the first results of the call for tenders launched by Fifa would be very far from the body’s expectations.
Fifa far from the billion?
In order to convince the clubs to field their best team during the tournament after an extended season, Fifa has provided a generous financial package for the participants. European groups could even receive sums of around 40 million euros for their presence in the United States next summer. Problem is, if the broadcasters are not there, the bonuses paid to the teams involved will be less significant.
And according to the first consultation launched at global level, TV rights would be “quite far” from the billion euros hoped for by the international federation for the new Club World Cup according to the French daily. More generally, and this is where the problem lies, there would be no real enthusiasm on the part of European broadcasters.
Beyond possibly making an offer to Fifa, the interest does not seem crazy for this new Club World Cup. “The process of selling television rights has not been completed and we must wait for its outcome to have a correct vision of the situation”, we defend within Fifa in comments relayed by the newspaper L’Equipe .
Infantino wouldn’t want to give up anything
Despite the weak television enthusiasm, Gianni Infantino would not intend to abandon his project. Supported in particular by the ECA, the boss of Fifa has made this new generation Club World Cup one of his revolutions for world football. So much so that, if the broadcasters are not sufficiently there for the 2025 edition, its organization would consider drawing on its reserves to guarantee juicy bonuses to participants.
An effort which would therefore allow us to put our foot down for the competition held every four years. And once the 2025 World Cup is over, with the hoped-for (good) fallout and a nice show on the pitch, Fifa could discuss again with the broadcasters with an attractive product to sell.
