Is this thing going to actually be played? I hope they have back-up teams in case some of the invitees drop.
A little clarification here:
A recent analysis published by Opta shows that, while City played the most games last season (59), the majority of teams in Europe played fewer than 50 matches, with five Premier League sides playing 42 games last season – just four more than the league season.
The min # matches that an EPL team could play is 40: 38 EPL, one EFL Cup and one FA Cup. That they lost their (average) second match in those tournaments doesn’t mean much. They sometimes play another EPL team, so one’s out, one plays on.
And, the top teams in those tourneys often don’t play their top players.
EDIT: And just today (10/15/2024):
Not sure if a word of this is true, but:
“FIFA president, you know that you have not sold the audiovisual rights for the budget you said for that Club World Cup,” Tebas said, while speaking at the Forum of the European Union of Clubs in Brussels. "You know that you do not have the sponsorships for that Club World Cup as you had budgeted.
“You know that the leagues and the players’ football unions we don’t want that Club World Cup. Withdraw that Club World Cup now.”
Tebas believes FIFA will have to use its own funds to launch the 24-team Club World Cup next year.
He said: “If you are going to use FIFA funds to finance the money that is missing from the promise you have made to the clubs, you are taking it away from all those federations or places that FIFA says it is there to help. We are talking about more of €1.5 billion that will have to be drawn from that fund.”
That would be shitty if FIFA lost money on this. Sure, FIFA losing money would be a great thing except that they give a shit-ton of money to federations all over the world, and that would be the first spigot to be closed.
according to wiki:
On July 15, 2024, media rights tender for FIFA’s new top club competition open for the Americas, Asia, and Middle East & North Africa for 2025 editions.[29] FIFA published an “invitation to tender in the Americas, Asia, and Middle East & North Africa” weeks after talks with tech giant Apple over an exclusive $1 billion global rights deal for the tournament, which was said to be a quarter of FIFA’s broadcasting target value for the tournament reportedly stalled.[30][31][32] On September 19, 2024, FIFA called an emergency meeting to discuss broadcasting rights as a deal was still not reached.[33]
Yeah, no TV rights deal reached so far.
So, Spain FA, withdraw your Madrid teams. A lot less racism at this tourney will be the result. If they do, expect others to follow suit.
Bummer, as I could easily go to The Rose Bowl for a match.
Prize Money, from onefootball:
While it might seem like another major commitment for the players after what will be another hectic season, the financial incentive for participating in the Club World Cup is certainly inarguable.
The total prize money is around €2.5bn and an initial €2bn will be distributed among the 32 teams that book their plane tickets to the USA. Qualification therefore brings €50m as a minimum, while there will be other results-based bonuses and the winner will receive around €100m.
Lastly, it’s only the 12 UEFA teams that seem to be upset over the increased number of competitive matches (note: they would be on friendly tours). The other, smaller teams get 50M Euros, so bring it on! That’s ten years of salary for them (disclaimer: no math was harmed in that estimate). 50M Euros buys the big teams one more player on transfer.