A ‘Prime Club Competition’ or ‘Useless’? The FIFA Club World Cup, Explained

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has placed a lot of his reputation on its success, down to making sure his name is on the winner’s trophy multiple times and having FIFA call it a “prime club competition.”

Jürgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager and now head of global soccer for Red Bull, has called it “useless.”

It is the FIFA Club World Cup, previously a mostly sleepy seven-team tournament that has expanded this summer to a massive 32-team event throughout the United States.

With several big name clubs from throughout Europe including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus, the Club World Cup could also conceivably end with a rematch of this year’s UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan.

FIFA placed the event in the United States in the hopes of promoting next summer’s World Cup and heightening its anticipation. Reaction leading to this summer’s tournament has been focused more off the field and, in some minds, taken FIFA’s attention from next summer at a time where every day matters.

How It Affects 2026 Planning

Twelve stadiums are being used for the expanded 32-team tournament including five of the 11 U.S. venues for the 2026 World Cup: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; MetLife Stadium; Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida; Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia and Lumen Field in Seattle.

“Every time you host an event, whether or not it’s a concert, whether or not it’s a parade, whether or not it’s a road race, or a major sporting event, you’re going to learn something,” Metro Atlanta Chamber President Katie Kirkpatrick said. “So it’s certainly going to be instructive. It’s going to give some insights into some things, but it is not of the same scale as the World Cup. … at the end of the day, we’re going to be focused on 2026 and making sure we have a great experience.”

That sentiment is shared by the U.S. host cities this summer, who are not involved per se in the planning and organization of Club World Cup because they are focused instead on next summer.

“Having the semifinals and the finals is going to be a great way for us to kind of see how everything operates as a host committee,” said New York/New Jersey Host Committee CEO Alex Lasry. But he admitted “it’s not apples to apples, right? The Club World Cup, just because it’s run by FIFA and has World Cup in it, doesn’t make it the same thing as the World Cup. The World Cup’s the biggest event in the world. So there is nothing comparable.”

Then there is the Concacaf Gold Cup, which has games at five World Cup venues — SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California; Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California; AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and BC Place in Vancouver before the July 6 final at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Gold Cup started this past weekend with more than 54,000 at SoFi Stadium for Mexico’s opening match. The other matches on the weekend drew low numbers with a doubleheader in San Diego — with not great matchups for the local community — drawing what could be charitably described as a friends and family crowd.

“It’s absolutely a learning opportunity from a transportation standpoint,” said Los Angeles Host Committee Vice President Jason Krutzsch. “But they’re two totally different tournaments. As far as the demand and interest that we’re seeing between them, it’s not comparable.”

The congested calendar of soccer this month between two international tournaments, before you even get to the traditional slate of summer friendlies.

“I think we’ve all done a good job in our markets to do the best we can to educate folks on the differences,” said Chris Canetti, Houston Host Committee president. “There’s a lot of confusion that comes about with the two tournaments being one year after the next and I know that’s something that all of us have had to take on as part of our responsibilities to communicate to our sponsors, the community, and others, the difference between the two.”

Other Club World Cup sites include the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, site of the 1994 World Cup final, and Camping World Stadium in Orlando, another 1994 World Cup site. The MLS venues are Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte; TQL Stadium in Cincinnati; Geodis Park in Nashville; Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando and Audi Field in Washington.

The two West Coast locations — Pasadena and Seattle — stage only group-stage games with round of 16 games in Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia. Quarterfinals are in Atlanta, Orlando, New Jersey and Philadelphia before MetLife Stadium hosts the semifinals on July 8–9 and the championship on July 13.

“Anytime you get a major sports and entertainment event that’s run by the same people that are going to be running the World Cup, it allows us to work together, see how everyone operates and start to work some of those cobwebs off so that we’re ready and already have a rhythm by the time we get to the World Cup,” Lasry said.

Plenty of Issues in Leadup

FIFA’s promotion of the Club World Cup as an elite club competition seems lightweight, in one mind, compared to the event that it is trying to overtake; the UEFA Champions League, which is regarded as the gold standard and has fans who claim it to be an even better caliber competition than the World Cup.

Given the reach in the U.S. of many European mega-clubs, having names such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the competition are crucial to the Club World Cup’s success. But there is no Barcelona in this tournament, or Manchester United. There has also been significant pushback about another massive tournament added to an already congested calendar.

“We want to protect football,” David Terrier, president of players’ union FIFPRO Europe, has said. “It’s a big problem and it’s not just about the workload. The question is about the governance because the calendar is a consequence of the governance of football.”

The Club World Cup also draws teams from all of FIFA’s confederations including parts of the world where there are visa processing delays. President Donald Trump’s travel bans aren’t exactly reassuring international fans, either, as well as fears that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection would be doing security at games. The U.S. Travel Association has urged the Trump administration to improve such things as visa processing and customs wait times.

Then there is the ticketing saga. FIFA started the ticketing process with prices charitably described as expensive and in many corners described as exorbitant (if you think the latter, just wait until prices for the World Cup tickets are revealed).

For Inter Miami’s opening game against Al-Ahly, ticket prices started in December at $349, then dropped a bit, then dropped significantly in the days to $55 in sections before the game in an attempt to pack the stadium. The whole mess was succinctly described by The Athletic earlier this month.

The Early Impressions

Given the low expectations given the issues ahead of the event, there could be a case that FIFA regards the opening weekend as a success. Miami’s opener was a scoreless draw but in a fairly full Hard Rock Stadium with no wide gaps of open seats. Saturday’s Rose Bowl clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid started out in front of a small crowd but ended up with more than 80,000 in attendance.

While FIFA has billed the tournament as the best club teams in the world, there already has been evidence for that to be not the case. German powerhouse Bayern Munich won its opening match 10-0 against an overmatched Auckland City of New Zealand in a game that drew over 21,000 in Cincinnati but marked mostly but Bayern fans unfurling a banner referring to the infamous FIFA raids of a decade ago, proclaiming ‘10 Years Baur Au Lac — World Football is More Poorly Governed than Before! Smash FIFA!’

The New York/New Jersey opener drew 46,275 for Palmeiras vs. FC Porto, a crowd that could be kindly described as having a late-season New York Jets feel to it and got more attention for postgame when those involved said the new grass field was not up to par, an issue that will surely be watched closely next year with the number of venues that will need new surfaces installed.

One of the key aspects of the Club World Cup from the U.S. soccer fan point of view is how Major League Soccer’s competing sides will do and after Inter Miami’s draw in the opening match, the Seattle Sounders lost at home 2-1 to Brazilian power Botafogo in front of 30,151 at Lumen Field, a total about par for the Sounders’ home MLS games this season. It is worth noting that according to the Seattle Times, the Sounders offered two free tickets to Sunday’s game for anyone who had “purchased tickets through the club during the presale period.”

Monday’s schedule of games was highlighted by Chelsea of the Premier League beating Major League Soccer’s LAFC 2-0 in Atlanta; having LAFC play across the country instead of, say, the Rose Bowl was due to the club’s late inclusion into the field and having the game in the middle of the afternoon local time (better for European TV broadcast windows) led to a dead atmosphere with an announced crowd of 22,137 that in reality was several thousands less. Boca Juniors of Argentina were smartly placed in Miami for its game against Portugal’s Benfica, a 2-2 draw with 55,574 on hand. The Philadelphia matchup of Brazil’s Flamengo and Tunisia’s ES Tunis drew 25,797 for Flamengo’s 2-0 win.

What Else You Need to Know

The 32 participating clubs hailing from 20 different nations are training in 14 states across the country. Florida (9), California (5), New Jersey (4), North Carolina (3), Virginia (2), Tennessee (2) and Washington (2) are home to training sites that have been selected by multiple clubs.

Locations in Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia will also host teams. The Major League Soccer training centers of Charlotte FC, DC United, Inter Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders will be utilized throughout the tournament.

FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Team Base Camp Training Sites

Al Ahly FC: Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida; The Pingry School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Al Ain FC: Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia
Al Hilal: DC United Training Centre, Leesburg, Virginia; Nashville SC Training Facility, Nashville, Tennessee
Atlético de Madrid: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Auckland City FC: Baylor School, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Borussia Dortmund: Inter Miami CF Training Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Botafogo: Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California
Boca Juniors: Barry University, Miami Shores, Florida
River Plate: Sounders FC Clubhouse and Training Facility, Renton, Washington
Monterrey: Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
Pachuca: UNC Charlotte, Charlotte
Chelsea FC: Philadelphia Union Training Facility, Chester, Pennsylvania; Nova Southeastern University, Davie, Florida
CR Flamengo: Stockton University, Galloway, New Jersey; Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando
Espérance de Tunisie: Oakland University, Oakland County, Michigan
Bayern Munch: Wide World of Sports Complex, Orlando
Inter Milan: UCLA, Los Angeles; Seattle Seahawks Training Centre, Renton, Washington
FC Porto: Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey
FC Salzburg: Melanie Lane Training Ground, Whippany, New Jersey
Fluminense FC: University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
Inter Miami: Inter Miami CF Training Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Juventus: The Greenbrier Sports Training Centre, Greenbrier County, West Virginia; ChampionsGate, Orlando, Florida
Los Angeles Football Club: Mercer University, Macon, Georgia
Mamelodi Sundowns FC: IMG Academy, Bradenton, Florida
Manchester City: Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida
Paris Saint-Germain: University of California Irvine, Irvine, California
Real Madrid: Gardens North County District Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Palmeiras: UNC Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina
Seattle Sounders: Sounders FC Clubhouse and Training Facility, Renton, Washington
SL Benfica: Waters Sportsplex, Tampa, Florida
Ulsan HD: Charlotte FC, Charlotte
Urawa Red Diamonds: University of Portland, Portland, Oregon
Wydad AC: Landon School, Bethesda, Maryland