Clicked in sports, but lucrative – BVB in the balancing act in front of the club World Cup

Football does not know a break for Borussia Dortmund’s professionals this summer: participation in the newly created club World Cup is too lucrative.

The newly created club World Cup takes place for the first time this summer – and with Borussia Dortmund is also a representative from North Rhine-Westphalia at the start. From June 14th, from Saturday, BVB will measure itself from all over the world with 31 other teams. It starts for the black and yellow with the first group game on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against the Brazilian club Fluminense.

Prize money extremely lucrative

What has long been common in national teams at EM and World Cup now takes place at club level: a worldwide tournament. BVB Managing Director Hans-Joachim Watzke thinks so: “Why shouldn’t it be the case at the club level, but in national teams. After all, the clubs pay the professionals!”

You can already tell from this statement: it’s all about money – because the competition is always lucrative. A total of one billion US dollars has awarded FIFA in prize money. A European winner would receive almost $ 126 million, as much as for a complete Champions League season.

Closer Summer time plan For the clubs

The opponents of the Borussia are called Fluminense from Brazil, Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa and Ulsan HD from South Korea. The BVB in New York will kick off, the other two games rise in Cincinnati. The United States has been chosen a year before the 2026 World Cup as organizers of the club World Cup and rehearsals for the larger tournament, which they will organize together with Canada and Mexico.

One thing is clear: the interests are negotiated on the back of the players. There is hardly any vacation for BVB professionals this year. Coach Niko Kovac also criticized the tight schedule in the association interview with FIFA: “We have no preparation, no preparatory game, so we will play the first game without having played any friendly games or preparatory games.”

BVB without Can and Özcan in the USA

And after the club World Cup? The preparation for the new season is already due. According to Watzke, this will have to take place compressed. “With the club World Cup, the end of the flagpole has been reached. There are no more appointments,” said Watzke of the newspaper “Welt”. In the meantime, the injured Emre Can and Salih Özcan are missing in the squad for the tournament, including newcomers Jobe Bellingham.

He could make the failure of the two midfielder forgot and will probably celebrate his debut. If the BVB progresses, there could even be a brother duel with Jew – because in the round of 16, a possible opponent would mean Real Madrid. Because of all appointment stress, sports director Sebastian Kehl also emphasized the sporting value: “This tournament offers sporty attentive. We want to survive at least the group phase.”

Watzke meanwhile finds further arguments for the new competition: Finally, non-European clubs could also play against European games: “We are often asked, why can’t we play against the top clubs from Europe? Are we second-class people?” He was also sure that there will be exciting and interesting games – but you have to admit that the economic arguments clearly exceed the sporting well -being.

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