September 20 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino is reported to have called an emergency meeting with broadcasters for today (Friday) amid concerns over a lack of tv interest in his much-trumpeted pet project, the expansion of Club World Cup.
FIFA has so far failed to announce a single broadcast deal for the 32-team tournament next year which Infantino is hoping will match the World Cup at club level.
Discussion had been taking place with Apple TV over broadcast rights with FIFA confident it could pull in the kind of elevated broadcast numbers in line with the new NBA deal that has seen ESPN/ABC, NBCU and Amazon Prime Video in a new $76 billion, 11-year contract.
Apple has had success with the exclusive rights to the MLS with a 10-year $2.5 billion agreement signed in 2022. That deal initially looked to be struggling to work but came good when Lionel Messi signed for InterMiami, sparking the Messi-mania that boosted the MLS across the board.
With Apple pulling out of the FIFA Club World Cup negotiations earlier in the year, US industry talk was that FIFA would end up pulling the event as no other major US broadcaster had come to the table.
The upshot is that with broadcast interest not hitting the required financial commitments either domestically or internationally, Infantino has stepped in personally to lead an emergency briefing and drum up support.
The situation mirrors to a degree the slow broadcast sales for the 2023 Women’s World Cup with FIFA going to market late with enormous demands of their partner broadcasters whose budgets in many cases had been set years previously.
A compromise was reached but one that wasn’t financially in FIFA’s favour. However, the Women’s World Cup was an already established event and the timing came as the women’s game was seeing an enormous boost at all levels globally.
The expanded Club World Cup is different. It is a new event expanded from a generally unloved seven-team competition played annually and considered by most of the big European clubs as an unnecessary distraction at a key time in their seasons.
The competition in the United States is due to take place between June 15 and July 13, 2025 and has received despite fierce opposition from elite players and legal action from their unions over the prospect of burn-out due to the ever-increasing international calendar. The World Leagues Association has similarly expressed concerns on the growing match calendar and what many see as an assault on their own revenue streams by FIFA.
Manchester City midfield star Rodri recently claimed players could go on strike if they are pushed beyond their limits.
Twelve European teams are set to be included, while six South American teams, four from Asia, Africa, and north & central America, and one from Oceania also take part.
Of the European contingent some of the biggest names globally in club football – Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona and AC Milan – have not qualified. Their non-participation will have a significant impact on global and domestic broadcast interest.
With the lack of financial support glaring FIFA in the face, the governing body has still not released full details of the competition including which exact locations games will be staged, training camp and accommodation details, and the commitments teams will have to make.
Money has been the motivation for this tournament and FIFA has also not informed clubs either how much they can expect to earn for taking part.
Yet Infantino has come out swinging in defence of the competition arguing that the event is on par with national team tournaments like the World Cup.
“FIFA is organizing around one percent of the games of the top clubs in the world. When it comes to the national teams, it is very similar,” he said earlier in the summer.
FIFA needs a financial white knight to put this competition on and rumours are that they will end up turning to their financial friends in the Middle East to make it happen. With FIFA’s hands already deep in their pockets there is a very tricky risk and reward assessment to be navigated if they were to bail out the competition’s launch.
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