The more pessimistic amongst us always doubted that there would be any sporting integrity in FIFA’s new expanded Club World Cup, with 32 teams set to compete in America in the summer of 2025, but this latest revelation confirms it.
I do not believe anyone asked for this, certainly no football fan. No one has ever really cared about the Club World Cup, a tournament FIFA only created to reinvigorate the original concept of the old Intercontinental Cup, which had been an interesting test between the best of Europe and South America, but by the end, interest was dwindling. The financial inequalities between Europe and South America meant that European sides increasingly saw it as a chore rather than an opportunity, and European attitudes followed suit.
So, instead of meaningfully addressing the inequalities in the sport, FIFA decided simply to give it a flash new name and invite teams from other continents to be the whipping boys of Europe and South America, to bloat the tournament with utterly worthless matches.
To be fair to FIFA, they have at least identified the issue, however their diagnosis is well wide of the mark, and their solution is even more contrived and bloated. In an era with an already congested fixture schedule, the most obvious sacrifice should be the ridiculous pre-season tours to America and the far-East, where bored stars are forced, apparently at gunpoint, to play to sterile crowds in half-full identikit stadiums. The whole ordeal is rather tragic, and there is basically no evidence of any football fan watching any of it.
Thus, naturally, FIFA has decided what we need is more of that. Only there will be less squad rotation to spare the best players some of the ordeal, and there is an ugly and cheap trophy to compete for. Also, unlike in any other serious tournament, there isn’t really a qualification progress. FIFA has just picked a fairly arbitrary selection of 12 top European sides, a few from South America, and a smattering from the non-footballing continents, a smattering which now includes David Beckham’s rather pathetic excuse for a football club, Inter Miami.
It would be easy to look at this from a cynical perspective. So I shall. I am not entirely sure how FIFA expects anyone to take this at face value when it is so nakedly a cash-grab designed to squeeze the last few pennies out of Lionel Messi before he retires. It is viewing the finest player of the 21st Century as an asset, and while Messi is far from blameless, often partaking gladly in sportswashing, and selling out by moving to America in the first place, the blame for this Frankenstein’s monster of a tournament lies squarely with Infantino and FIFA. Were there not – allegedly – reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo cannot travel to the United States – allegedly – I would not be surprised to see whichever meaningless Saudi club he plays for shoehorned in at the last minute, only to be coincidentally put in Inter Miami’s group.
FIFA’s new tournament is not a tournament for football fans. The sterile, non-footballing crowds it will be played in front of will create no atmosphere, the mismatched teams will demonstrate little competitiveness, and the already bored and exhausted players will bring none of their best football. I would be glad to see it fail in the pitiful manner it deserves.
Photo Credits: “Gianni Infantino (32879983122)” by Doha Stadium Plus Qatar from Doha, Qatar is licensed under CC BY 2.0.