The Case for the FIFA Club World Cup

When FIFA launches a new tournament, criticism often follows, particularly from Europe. The calendar is already bursting, motives questioned, and the established order rattled. So, as the expanded FIFA Club World Cup kicks off in 2025, it's met with familiar skepticism.

But I would argue that, when scrutinized, this tournament isn't just another fixture; it's a strategic move specifically addressing some of the shortcomings of the current setup:

• It promises to replicate the magic of the FIFA World Cup, where top South American talent aims to upset European supremacy.
• The new format takes the best of club football to a global audience, thereby helping top European clubs unlock substantial growth potential in overseas markets.
• And the new, streamlined FIFA calendar – integrating the Club World Cup, World Cup, Women's World Cup, and Continental Cups on a quadrennial rotation – helps clean up the calendar.

1. The Promise of Unrivaled Global Showdowns

The enduring magic of the FIFA World Cup for national teams lies in its unique global clashes. The World Cup, the world's biggest sporting event, while global in scope, has been driven by the more narrowly defined rivalry between South American and European giants. Since 1930, World Cup glory has exclusively rested with just eight nations – five from Europe and three from South America.

So, while the world's biggest sporting event has been driven by the rivalry between South American and European giants, the club football pairings have been far more subdued and scarce. While the sport has globalized immensely, a critical question remains: have clubs from other confederations truly closed the qualitative gap on these traditional powerhouses, or do Europe and South America still hold undisputed reign?

Filling a Historical Club Void

Historically, club football lacked a comprehensive global showdown; its continental championships, like the UEFA Champions League, are fiercely competitive but exist in their own silos. The closest past approximation, the old Intercontinental Cup, was a fleeting, two-team affair, limiting any true global comparison. Intriguingly, historical data from those contests shows a remarkable balance: European clubs won 21 times, while South American clubs claimed 22 titles, underscoring a period of genuine, high-stakes parity.

True, the landscape has shifted, with European leagues now concentrating much of the world's elite talent. Some argue a global club tournament comes "too late." Indeed, the existing FIFA Club World Cup, which has run since 2005 (and an earlier edition in 2000), starkly illustrates this shift: European clubs have claimed 16 titles, compared to just 4 for South American teams.

However, it is yet to be seen what a format which requires consistency and reduces the factor of randomness will do to the outcome. Just as the national World Cup offers diverse footballing philosophies colliding, the new FIFA Club World Cup offers an unprecedented opportunity to stage the very best clubs, from all corners of the globe, squaring off in meaningful competition. Even if European dominance is anticipated, the potential for upsets, the unique tactical challenges from different footballing cultures, and the sheer narrative thrill of seeing a Flamengo or an Ulsan Hyundai test themselves against Real Madrid or Manchester City provides an intrinsic value no other club competition can deliver. It promises matchups previously confined to hypothetical debates, injecting fresh, globally inclusive excitement into the club football calendar.

2. Unlocking Global Markets: A Revenue Multiplier for Elite Brands

Beyond the spectacle, the new Club World Cup offers a crucial solution to a paradox facing elite football clubs: how do global football club brands with vast recognition monetize their immense, yet geographically dispersed, fanbases? Consider a club like Real Madrid, which commands over 470 million followers across its social media platforms, yet its annual revenues hovered around €831 million ($900M+) in 2022/23. This is a fraction of what highly scalable tech or entertainment giants generate. For instance, Snapchat, a platform with 460 million daily active users, pulled in $4.6 billion in 2023, illustrating a similar scale of reach between a top club's fanbase and a major tech platform's user base.

However, the revenue disparity is stark. Compared to many consumer-facing companies further down the S&P 500 list, football's monetization struggles are evident. For example, Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (number 502 on the S&P 500) generated $11.4 billion in 2023. This demonstrates that even companies with far less global brand recognition and fewer direct "customers" than Real Madrid has passionate "fans" are vastly more effective at converting interest into revenue. Football clubs struggle to monetize their passionate global fanbase, with the vast majority of their revenues still stemming from the home market. This represents a massive untapped opportunity to generate income from fans willing to engage with products or services they appreciate.

The immersive, visceral experience of attending a match in Madrid simply can’t be fully replicated by watching on a screen in Jakarta. This is often compounded by time differences, and moreover, while every domestic league match holds importance for the title race, the appeal of many such fixtures to an international audience is diminished. A typical league encounter against a lesser-known opponent, played at an inconvenient hour from a comparatively dull stadium – like Real Madrid versus Getafe or Leganés – often fails to resonate with a fan in Asia. These matches, though vital domestically, lack the transcending rivalry or cultural connection that would compel an overseas supporter to stay awake until 2 AM. Based on this reality, the value of the globally scalable TV product, and thus its revenue potential per viewer, remains limited. While other revenue streams, such as football shirt sales, have grown globally, their contribution remains relatively limited compared to media revenue.

To bridge this, top clubs embark on pre-season tours to lucrative markets like North America and Asia. These tours fill stadiums, but their fundamental flaw lies in their lack of competitive stakes. Exhibitions rarely ignite the passion or sustained engagement of a competitive fixture.

This is precisely where the FIFA Club World Cup could mark a pivotal first step. It presents an opportunity to establish a structure allowing the world's premier clubs to play competitive matches overseas, even against local teams, which could potentially increase overseas revenues substantially. For local supporters whose clubs participate, finally witnessing their beloved team compete in a meaningful, high-stakes tournament on their home soil is unparalleled. Meanwhile, for fans of European giants located anywhere outside Europe, the tournament potentially brings the spectacle of their team playing a competitive match in match-ups against clubs that resonate specifically within their own region – e.g. to the guy RM fan in Tokyo a Japanese team or a successful, well-known Asian contender going up against los Blancos – and thus injecting local relevance into a global fixture.

If top clubs are to truly unlock the immense potential of Asia's three billion people or North America's sports-hungry audience, the Club World Cup could prove a significant pathway. It may enable clubs to forge closer, more enduring connections with overseas fans over time, thereby facilitating new ways to monetize the club-fan relationship.

3. Reclaiming Calendar Clarity: A Strategic Piece of the Puzzle

The most common criticism leveled at the new FIFA Club World Cup is the perpetual "too many matches" complaint. While the football calendar is indeed bursting, laying the blame squarely on this tournament misunderstands the true drivers of congestion. This isn't just a FIFA problem; it’s a systemic turf war.

UEFA, for example, has significantly expanded the Champions League, adding 64 more group-stage matches from the 2024-25 season, meaning finalists could play up to 17 games in the competition alone. They also introduced the biennial Nations League and expanded the European Championship from 16 to 24 teams in 2016. Concurrently, Europe's top domestic leagues fiercely resist reducing team numbers – most play 38 league games, unlike Germany’s Bundesliga with 18 teams and 34 games. Each entity is aggressively expanding its footprint.

However, amidst this scramble, it’s crucial to distinguish between essential, high-value football and mere 'calendar fluff.' The matches that truly resonate with audiences and generate significant economic value are the knockout stages of major tournaments and top-tier league clashes. It defies logic that a prestigious FIFA tournament, with its global audience and over a billion dollars in prize money, should be the first casualty in a calendar trim. Instead, the focus should shift to areas of lower sporting or commercial significance – perhaps streamlining irrelevant international qualifiers or re-evaluating domestic cup competitions that primarily serve as training grounds.

Crucially, the FIFA Club World Cup isn't being introduced in isolation. It's part of a broader, more integrated international match calendar. From 2027, the Women's World Cup will occupy the June/July slot every four years, guaranteeing a dedicated global stage. In the intervening years (like 2025, 2029), the Club World Cup takes center stage. With its limited 12 European berths, this means many top players will still enjoy extended off-seasons during these 'uneven' years, providing crucial rest. Far from adding indiscriminately to congestion, the FIFA Club World Cup, within this new framework, offers a high-value competitive window that rationalizes and, to some extent, provides relief to the calendar, all while offering superior sporting value than many current footballing activities.

In Conclusion

The new FIFA Club World Cup represents yet another significant step in the ever-evolving global football industry. It's not just an additional fixture, but a strategic innovation designed to bring the pinnacle of club competition to a truly global stage, unlock substantial growth potential for the sport's biggest brands, and introduce a more structured approach to a crowded calendar.

Therefore, my claim, as laid out throughout this text, is that this new tournament format is a high-value addition that promises to bring real value to all constituents within the footballing ecosystem, be it fans, players, clubs, or regions globally.

```