Most of the opening matches of the tournament had quite good audience numbers - Photo: REUTERS
That is a number that is enough to please FIFA and its sponsors. But that does not mean FIFA can continue to be more "greedy".
Not satisfied enough
Until the final minutes before the FIFA Club World Cup kicked off, doubts remained about the tournament’s appeal. Reports said just over 20,000 tickets out of a maximum 67,000 seats had been sold for the opening match between Inter Miami and Al Ahly. Then ticket prices were slashed to the point that FIFA implemented a buy-one-get-four-free program for students…
In the end, the opening match drew 60,000 spectators, enough to reassure fans. The second match, between Bayern Munich and Auckland City, attracted just 21,000. This was to be expected, given the disparity in strength between the two teams. But 46,000 turned out to see Palmeiras take on Porto in the next Group A match.
And when PSG faced Atletico Madrid, the 80,000 crowd was enough to make FIFA rub their hands in satisfaction. Of course, satisfaction was not enough, because the Rose Bowl has a capacity of up to 90,000 seats.
Risky gamble
FIFA faced a difficult problem when bringing the FIFA Club World Cup to the US. Everyone knows that the richest country in the world, the world's number one sports power, is not a fan of the king of sports. Not only that, FIFA also faced difficulties because of the massive stadiums in the US.
Did you know that 8 of the 11 largest stadiums in the world (with a capacity of more than 100,000) are in the US? When it comes to stadiums under 100,000, the US still dominates. But most of them are football and baseball stadiums - the favorite sports in the US. For example, Hard Rock Stadium, which hosted the opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup, is home to the Miami Dolphins.
Every time a major game in these sports takes place, the Hard Rock or Rose Bowl is packed, despite sky-high ticket prices. In 2024, the average ticket price for an NFL game will be $377 - five times higher than the $75 price for the Premier League.
When the Americans held the FIFA Club World Cup, they continued to raise the price tag and immediately ran into trouble. Americans were not willing to pay as much for soccer as they were for football, baseball, or basketball. And spectators from other countries were not willing to pay the high price tag.
FIFA has taken a big gamble by bringing its special FIFA Club World Cup to the United States. It is a gamble not only in terms of budget and profitability but also in terms of branding. It is hard to accept that a tournament called the Club World Cup has a sparse audience, with half the seats empty.
Lamine Yamal and Barca are not allowed to participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup - Photo: Reuters
Want everything
At least this worry has been temporarily alleviated after the first two days of the FIFA Club World Cup. Next is the worry that FIFA cannot deal with with temporary measures such as massive ticket price cuts: professional quality. The first four matches of the FIFA Club World Cup have not been dramatic at all with two goalless draws and two matches with too much difference (Bayern won 10-0, PSG won 4-0).
Why is a semi-professional team like Auckland City allowed to attend the World Cup? Why are there 12 European tickets for Salzburg and Porto but not for Barca and Liverpool? That is a series of controversies that FIFA has left behind because of its "greed".
They want to promote the FIFA Club World Cup as a super attractive, super dramatic version of the club World Cup, and also want to expand their festival to smaller football regions. They want a large audience, and they want to profit from sky-high ticket prices...
FIFA cannot "do whatever it wants" for a tournament whose sustainability is uncertain.
According to FIFA regulations, each country can only have a maximum of 2 clubs participating in the FIFA Club World Cup . That is why Barca, Liverpool, and Napoli are absent from the tournament. Europe has a total of 12 representatives - the 12 teams with the highest points on the UEFA rankings - through achievements in continental tournaments in 4 seasons (from 2020 - 2021 to 2023 - 2024).
But based on this scoreboard, Salzburg is only ranked 18th, while Liverpool is ranked 8th - eliminated, and Barca - ranked 12th is also eliminated. The reason is because above Liverpool are two English representatives, Man City (ranked 1st) and Chelsea (ranked 5th). Liverpool therefore automatically lost their ticket. Similarly, Barca is also inferior to two Spanish representatives, Real Madrid (ranked 2nd) and Atletico Madrid (ranked 10th).
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/fifa-dung-qua-tham-lam-20250617110900125.htm
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