Sport

Club World Cup must be taken seriously by Europe’s top teams

After years of planning, the expanded Club World Cup will kick off on Saturday. Originally slated for 2021, the 32-team tournament has become a defining symbol of Gianni Infantino’s tenure as FIFA president. This summer, many of the best teams in the game will compete to prove they are the best on the planet.

Of course, the Champions League realistically already does this and has done for generations. The best players play in Europe, therefore making the European champions the best team in the world. It is therefore fair to question the purpose of the expanded Club World Cup and why it should exist in the first place.

However, Europe’s top clubs have no choice but to take this summer’s tournament seriously. The riches on offer are eye-watering and could make a profound difference to the financial landscape of every team that takes part in the Club World Cup. It could be game-changing for even the wealthiest of clubs.

A prize fund of £1 billion is on offer to the 32 teams playing in the USA this summer. The winners will collect £97m for playing just six matches. For context, winning the Premier League title was worth £175m last season. Per match, there is no competition in world football as lucrative as the new Club World Cup.

In the PSR and FFP age, this money would be beneficial to any club. Real Madrid have sunk roughly £20m into making signings and managerial appointments early because their gamble would be worth almost five times that if it pays off. Florentino Perez has done his sums and is clearly aware of what is at stake.

This explains why so many clubs are scrambling to complete transfers before the start of the tournament – see Real Madrid paying Liverpool £10m to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold 30 days before the end of his contract. The Spanish giants have also landed Dean Huijsen and have even changed managers, replacing Carlo Ancelotti with Xabi Alonso.

Real Madrid aren’t the only ones accelerating their summer plans in time for the Club World Cup. Chelsea rushed through the signing of Liam Delap from Ipswich Town to give themselves another option in the centre forward position while Manchester City are busy attempting to sign Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijani Reijnders in the next few days.

It’s not just European clubs either. Al-Hilal have hired Simone Inzaghi as their new manager just days after he led Inter Milan into the Champions League final with the Saudi club also intent on landing a superstar player. They got close to signing Bruno Fernandes and are now targeting Victor Osimhen among others.

The qualification process for the expanded Club World Cup was murky (see how Inter Miami were invited and Los Angeles FC qualified by winning a singe-game playoff against Club America). There are also questions over the funding of the tournament and the close ties to Saudi Arabia – the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was announced as a sponsor last week.

Early on in the tournament, there will be a number of mismatches. Auckland City, for example, are a semi-professional team who will almost certainly be demolished by Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors. The MLS teams, even Inter Miami with Lionel Messi, could struggle too. There could be some embarrassing scorelines.

Nonetheless, there is a clear incentive for each of the 32 teams to put their best foot forward even if the players would rather be on summer holiday. So much of modern football is dictated by money and it’ll be no different this summer as Europe’s biggest and best clubs compete for the biggest share of the cash.