World Championship 2025, Fifa’s challenge. Everything you need to know about the new tournament: format, calendar, where to see it on TV, prize pool, sponsors and revenues
It is the first edition of a format destined, in the ideas of FIFA, that becomes one of the central appointments of football of the future. And it is also the clash ground on which the strength relations between Gianni Infantino and UEFA are measured, in an intertwining of football, politics and business that starts from the United States, crosses Europe and goes to Saudi Arabia. The Club World Cup enlarged to 32 teams is not just football: it is much more. Its success or failure will determine many of the balance of the Football Industry in the next few years And it is no coincidence that FIFA has invested time, money and political weight to pass beyond all the obstacles that accompanied its gestation to the starting whistle.
It is played in the United States and will be a general test in view of the actual world championshipwhat in the summer of 2026 the Italian national team hopes to be able to catch for the broken headphones. For Italy there are Inter and Juventus, who have earned the invitation to participate thanks to the results in the Champions League in the last four years. The best of the football of the Old Continent will be present, many have been condemned to stay at home for lack of adequate performance at European level or for the rigid tax rules of FIFA to avoid overlapping. It will talk about it, because beyond protests and complaints, the truth is that it is better to be there than missing.
Club World Cup, a prize pool of one billion euros
Fifa has created a format that promises prizes and revenues similar to those of the Champions League by playing, however, only a month. A welcome stimulus to clubs which, in fact, after an initial resistance caused the crowding of calendars, have joined without doing too many problems. Total prize pool of one billion dollars (over 900 million euros), more than captivating participation bonus and then prizes to result that will lead those who win to collect a check of more than one hundred million. If it was Real Madrid, a team to which a higher initial bonus has been guaranteed, you could go over 115.
The companies of the Old Continent will receive between 11.9 and 36 million euros, the others will have to settle for a minor slice of the budget but it will still be important money because for an African club 8.9 million represent a jackpot at the lottery. Infantino divided the prize pool in half: 488 million euros to be divided between the participants for the mere fact of being there, another 442 linked to the sporting results. For a European, exceeding the group stage means easily exceeding 30 million euros. Not bad.
Club world championship, sponsors and the intertwining with Saudi Arabia
Who pays? Said that FIFA has struggled in the long phase of sponsor collection and research partner research, Infantino found an axis that is not entirely unexpected, but very solid, with Saudi Arabia. The move that unlocked everything was the global agreement with DAZN for the free transmission of the 63 games of the tournament, everywhere, so as to guarantee its maximum visibility. The platform that in Italy is known as Serie A Broadcaster has spent one billion dollars and after a few weeks it has grossed the entrance into the corporate team of Surj Sports Investments, a company linked to the Saudi Saudi Pif fund more or less for the same figure.
And FIFA since April 2024 has linked itself as the main partner all over the world with the Riad Aramco oil company. That the 2034 World Cup was assigned to Saudi Arabia, returning to the desert after the experience of Qatar 2022, surprised few, in short. In the States there are those who have overshadowed irregularities in the choice process -according to the New York Times, the transparency procedures would have been violated -, but finds were not found and, therefore, we go further.
Club World Cup, the fear of empty stadiums
What will happen in the United States will be to be measured during the month of the event. The approach was not the best, there are no queues (physical or virtual) to buy tickets and fill the stadiums even for the most charming matches But never underestimate the FIFA ability to get out of the most complex situations.
How will you decide if the club world championship will have a future or not? Probably more counting the global television audience than the real presence in the beautiful and modern plants. Infantino needs success to give a strong blow to the UEFA of Ceferin, weakened inside from the centrifugal thrusts and the latest judgments of the EU Court of Justice who questioned its monopoly.
The other contrary positions, by the footballers union and the association of the leagues, do not seem able to affect the decision -making process of the strength relationships of the whole movement. The question of calendars is real, not an invention of critics: the ever -growing costs of football, however, require ever growing revenue lines and nobody wants to give up in the name of the show and the health of the protagonists. Which, however, do not pull back when it comes to gaining increasingly higher figures.
Club World Cup, the format and who participates
The club world championship format is borrowed from the national team world championship. Groups of four teams, qualify the first two and from the round of 16 onwards onwards, direct elimination challenges. There are 12 European Championships, at most two for each nation. For Italy there are Inter and Juventus who arrive in the United States with a new coach (Chivu for the Nerazzurri) and a fresh confirmation after being baptized ferryburst (Tudor for the Bianconeri).
The transition to the elimination phase is within the reach of both with a few more patema for Inter. The season finale, culminating in the debacle of the Champions League final after the Scudetto lost for a point in the sprint with Napoli, reported that the tank of the former Inzaghi team is empty. The Mexicans of Monterrey, the Japanese of Aurawa Reds and the River Plate full of history (and with young talent of Mastantuono) must be taken with the pliers to avoid adding bankruptcy.
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