FIFA shouldn't be too greedy.

FIFA - Ảnh 1. — Most of the opening matches of the tournament have a fairly good attendance - Photo: REUTERS

That figure is enough to please FIFA and its sponsors. But that doesn't mean FIFA can become even more "greedy."

Not satisfied yet.

Right up until the final minutes before the FIFA Club World Cup kicked off, doubts lingered about the tournament's appeal. Many reports indicated that only just over 20,000 tickets out of a maximum of 67,000 seats were sold for the opening match between Inter Miami and Al Ahly. Then, ticket prices had to be drastically reduced, to the point where FIFA implemented a "buy one, get four free" program for students...

Ultimately, the opening match attracted 60,000 spectators – a number sufficient to reassure fans. The second match, between Bayern Munich and Auckland City, only drew 21,000. This was to be expected, given the vast difference in strength between the two teams. However, a staggering 46,000 people attended Palmeiras' clash with Porto in the next Group A match.

And when PSG faced Atletico Madrid, the 80,000 spectators were enough to satisfy FIFA. Of course, that feeling of satisfaction wasn't enough, because the Rose Bowl stadium has a capacity of up to 90,000 seats.

A risky gamble

FIFA faced a difficult challenge in bringing the FIFA Club World Cup to the United States. Everyone knows that the world's richest and most powerful nation, the world's leading sporting power, isn't exactly a fan of football. Furthermore, FIFA also encountered difficulties due to the sheer size of the stadiums in the US.

Did you know that 8 out of the 11 largest stadiums in the world (with a capacity of over 100,000 seats) are in the United States? When moving down to the group of stadiums with fewer than 100,000 seats, the US still dominates. But most of these are stadiums for American football and baseball – sports that are very popular in the US. For example, Hard Rock Stadium, which hosts the opening game of the FIFA Club World Cup, is the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins football team.

Whenever major games in these sports take place, Hard Rock or Rose Bowl stadiums are packed, despite the exorbitant ticket prices. In 2024, the average ticket price for an NFL (American Football League) game was $377 – five times higher than the $75 of the Premier League.

When the Americans organized the FIFA Club World Cup, they continued to set exorbitant prices and immediately ran into difficulties. Americans weren't willing to pay as much for soccer as they do for football, baseball, or basketball. Meanwhile, audiences from other countries couldn't afford these high prices.

FIFA took a risky gamble by bringing its unique FIFA Club World Cup to the United States. The risk lay not only in terms of cost and profitability but also in brand image. It's unacceptable for a tournament bearing the name of a Club World Cup to have such low attendance, with half the seats in the stands empty.

FIFA - Ảnh 2. — Lamine Yamal and Barca will not be participating in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 - Photo: Reuters

I want everything.

At least this concern has eased somewhat after the first two days of the FIFA Club World Cup. Next comes a worry that FIFA cannot address with temporary measures like drastically lowering ticket prices: the quality of play. The first four matches of the FIFA Club World Cup lacked any drama, with two goalless draws and two extremely one-sided games (Bayern won 10-0, PSG won 4-0).

Why did a semi-professional team like Auckland City qualify for the World Cup? Why were Salzburg and Porto among the 12 European teams, but not Barcelona or Liverpool? These are just some of the controversies that FIFA has left behind due to its "greed."

They want to promote the FIFA Club World Cup as a super exciting, super dramatic version of the Club World Cup, while also expanding their event to smaller footballing nations. They want a large audience, but they also want to profit from exorbitant ticket prices...

FIFA cannot have everything it wants for a tournament whose sustainability is still uncertain.

According to FIFA regulations, each country can only have a maximum of two 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 ranking – based on their performance in continental competitions over four seasons (from 2020-2021 to 2023-2024).

However, based on these rankings, Salzburg only ranked 18th, while Liverpool ranked 8th and were eliminated, and Barca ranked 12th and were also eliminated. The reason is that two English teams, Man City (ranked 1st) and Chelsea (ranked 5th), ranked above Liverpool. Therefore, Liverpool automatically lost their chance. Similarly, Barca also ranked lower than two Spanish teams, Real Madrid (ranked 2nd) and Atletico Madrid (ranked 10th).

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/fifa-dung-qua-tham-lam-20250617110900125.htm