Bavaria and BVB boss
© Imago
For the two German representatives, a title with the extensively reformed club world championship would have historical dimensions. “It is a real challenge-and you can gain the first global tournament across all continents. That would be historical,” said Bavaria’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen in an interview together with Borussia Dortmund’s managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke in a special supplement (June 11) of the media group “Münchner Merkur/Tz”.
“Every football enthusiast still knows that Uruguay won the first World Cup in 1930. This will also be the first winner of the club World Cup in the future,” emphasized Watzke. 32 teams take part in the tournament in the USA, which begins this weekend and lasts until mid -July. Record champions Bavaria and BVB are the only Bundesliga clubs.
In Europe, all clubs are “hot like fried fat”, said Watzke: “Nobody will let up for a second.” In addition, it is also economically highly attractive, Dreesen emphasized. The tournament is endowed with a total of $ 1 billion, currently the equivalent of around 876 million euros. In the best case, the winner of the final on July 13th in East Rutherford can get a total of $ 125 million (around EUR 110 million).
“The sum is of course high, but you have to four parts,” said Watzke. “After all, the Champions League takes place every year-and the club World Cup only every four years. In addition, more competitive games mean higher performance bonuses for players, plus the extremely high travel expenses.” The 63 games of the club World Cup are held in twelve stadiums.
Club World Cup: Who are the favorites for Dreesen and Watzke?
The two officials did without a clear term. “It’s like in the Champions League: we want to survive the group phase and then from the eighth to the quarter-finals and from the quarter to the semi-finals. And so on. But we must not think that only the European teams can endanger us,” said Watzke. “Our claim is always to win titles. But first of all it is important to survive the group and reach the KO phase,” said Dreesen.
But at least he expects a European team in the final, “maybe two”. Watzke sees Paris Saint-Germain, who recently won the Champions League for the first time, as the first candidate on the title. “A top team that is ready for the first time to run to the last drop of blood. For me, the one that I trust the most,” he emphasized.