The first games of the club World Cup are played. Gianni Infantino praises his heart project as a success. However, reality looks different.
When he expressed a reform of the club World Cup several years ago, Gianni Infantino raved about a “new milestone for world football”. Before the start of his heart project last weekend, he emphasized again that a “new era of football” had come.
On Tuesday, FIFA announced that more than 340,000 people had followed the first three match days in the stadiums (eight games) – supposedly a great success. What sounds good at first is actually the opposite.
Infantino displaces reality. Because the number of spectators is anything but a success in terms of expectations. About the 12 games so far, 804,739 fans could have come, 433,065 were there. This corresponds to a viewer average of 36,089 people – and thus a stadium utilization of only 53.81 percent. Big rush of fans looks different.
Especially since there were the debates about empty stadium ranks before the tournament. According to “The Athletic”, FIFA sold tickets to Miami Dade College for the opening game in the US state of Florida. According to the report, the students paid $ 20 (around 17.40 euros) and received five tickets for this. That is four dollars per card. For sure: World Cup tickets would be gone in a second for this Ramsch price. At the club World Cup there were still a few places available.
Fans also speculated on social media whether FIFA only sells tickets for one side of the stadium in some games to make it look full on TV. Many would do anything to the FIFA President something like that alone. Infantino has long since had the call that every means is right for him to let the club World Cup stand well. In truth, the empty ranks are sloping for infantino.
The failure already started in searching for sponsors (you can read more about this here). While for the men’s World Cup in the coming year and the Women’s World Cup 2027, partners could be announced in rows and are already certain, no large company wanted to start at the club World Cup. At the end of October 2024, the Chinese electronics group Hisense then redeemed FIFA around eight months before the start of the tournament and was the first sponsor. So there can be no question of attractiveness.
In addition, it is nice that Bayern were able to look forward to a 10: 0 at the start against Auckland City. But it also reminds of a first round in the DFB Cup when a fourth division is pleased that the German record champions come by. This is an honor for the small teams, no question. But: “Historical”, as Infantino emphasized in the draw, is not.
Especially since this tournament means an additional burden for the players in the summer months. The national coach Julian Nagelsmann even described them as “brutal”. Some players from BVB and Bavaria-and also from other clubs-first played the Bundesliga, then the Nations League, now the club World Cup, and then the new season begins only a month later. And next year? There is a world championship. A real one. How should the professionals regenerate? Not at all. There is a risk of injuries and a possible failure at the tournament in the coming year.