The Club World Cup, which kicks off in Miami this weekend, is a product of FIFA's efforts to challenge the Eurocentric establishment that dominates the global game and profits massively from it. The tournament, which was conceived by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, aims to make football truly global by commercializing elite clubs and players in the same way that domestic leagues and UEFA do.
There are two common answers to the question of why the Club World Cup exists. One is money, and the other is to help "make football truly global." While these answers come from opposite sides of a debate, they are actually quite similar at their core. Everything in modern soccer is about money, and money is the most powerful tool FIFA has in its effort to challenge the Eurocentric establishment.
FIFA, as soccer's global governing body, supports 211 national soccer federations that govern the sport country by country. Part of its mission is to generate revenue, which it can distribute to those 211 federations or invest in programs that develop the sport. So, it believes that it should be the richest soccer organization on the planet. From 2019 to 2022, FIFA made $7.6 billion, while UEFA, soccer's European governing body, made roughly $19 billion.
The English Premier League, alone, outearns FIFA and distributes money to its 20 private, professional clubs. UEFA redistributes its riches with European clubs and its 55 national federations. The clubs and federations use the money to buy and develop players; players attract fans; fans pay to consume UEFA's products, primarily the Champions League and the Euros; sponsors pay to associate with them; media companies pay to broadcast them; UEFA's revenues soar, the cycle spins, and soccer's Eurocentrism solidifies.
Asia, Africa, and the Americas—which supply talent for the Champions League but don't benefit from it—get left behind. Infantino acknowledges this issue and wants to bring football to the entire world. The way to do that is to generate more money, which FIFA can do by organizing more games or a new competition involving elite clubs and players. Domestic leagues control most of the games that elite players play, while UEFA controls most of the big ones. The Club World Cup is FIFA's attempt to commercialize those players and their clubs in the same way that the Prem and UEFA do weekly from August through May.
Soccer did not need a Club World Cup—its calendar was already overcrowded, and the Champions League winner is widely considered the best club team in the world. But FIFA and Infantino needed market share. The Club World Cup weathered resistance from the European establishment and eventually gained momentum. Despite lukewarm sponsors and wary broadcasters, FIFA secured funding from DAZN via a $1 billion global streaming deal. The funding allowed Infantino to promise tens of millions of dollars in prize money to top European clubs, who will attract an audience.
FIFA says that the 2025 tournament will break even, with the hope that this inaugural edition will pave the way for profits in 2029 and beyond. Those profits will help FIFA accomplish its mission of making football truly global. That, essentially, is why the Club World Cup is happening.
