FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup kicks off on Sunday as Lionel Messi and Inter Miami meet reigning Egyptian champions Al Ahly at Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium, and one suspects its organisers are desperate for some on-field narrative.
To this point, the tournament’s expansion to 32-teams – from the unpretentious six-team format which had taken place since 2000 – has been nothing but sports politics warfare. FIFA endured a grind to find a broadcast partner, legal action over an ‘abuse of power’ from two major football unions, and criticism for their desperation to see Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo partake.
The latest point of contention is their use of dynamic pricing for ticket sales, which usually portrays companies as greedy, and may very well still do so for next year’s international men’s World Cup. It’s use here has them looking not only greedy but deluded, with public demand not where they’d forecast.
‘For most football tournaments dynamic pricing – the system where prices rise or fall based on demand – isn’t used, and is quite controversial. In American sports it is the norm, happens all the time, so for those people [in the USA] is not a big issue’, The Times’ Martyn Ziegler told Box2Box.
‘What it has shown is for some of their prestige matches, including the tournament opener, the demand has just not been there. It’s amazing given tickets for Messi matches have been highly desired in Major League Soccer, but not for this tournament.
‘We have a situation where they originally went on sale for $349 USD – which I think is a crazy sum to have started with – but now it’s 16% of that, at $55 a ticket. Obviously if you bought a ticket at $359 and are sitting next to someone who paid $55, you’re not going to be too pleased.’
Will kick-off prove the distraction, and in time the justification that FIFA craves? There is plenty to be excited about for those inclined: famous clubs from football hotbeds South America and Europe to meet (try Palmeiras vs Porto or Benfica vs Boca Juniors), a new challenge for clubs that have enjoyed regional dominance (Al-Hilal & Urawa Reds with seven Asian Champions League titles between them), and the David versus Goliath novelty of semi-professional Auckland City playing Bayern Munich.
There’s also a $1billion prize pool up for grabs, with $127million on the line for the winner. FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced in March that a ‘solidarity agreement’ would see an additional $250million invested into club football globally, while neither FIFA or their reserves will retain any revenue generated.
But there’s a strong argument to be made that just because people all over the world are deeply passionate about football, it doesn’t mean they’re in need of more. League seasons are nearly always spinning, international tournaments dominate most off-seasons, and in the modern day many fans have access to a broader range of football than previously. You can only be deeply passionate about so much.
‘If you look back at the history of the old Club World Cup as a six-team tournament, it never really caught the imagination. So, I think it was a bit of a leap to think this would just take off. It doesn’t help that some of the biggest clubs, as global brands, aren’t there: Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool.
‘There hasn’t been a huge build up [in England] – people aren’t talking about it, it doesn’t have the same feeling before a World Cup or European Championships. It’ll be interesting to look back in twenty years’ time and see how it’s developed. I’m sure it will get a bit more popular, but I think it’s been a very testing start.’
Through it all Infantino has appeared something of a party host scrambling about the late stages of preparation, making last-minute concessions and alterations while maintaining the event will play out as the promised bonanza.
Messi has accepted his invitation and will attend – through immensely dubious means, with Inter Miami put forward by FIFA as its ‘host selection’ after winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield, criteria announced after the fact. But Ronaldo has turned his invite down, even after the gymnastic creation of the ‘mini-transfer window’, a ten day block that could have seen a rapid move to a club involved, after his Al-Nassr missed qualification.
‘The way Inter Miami and Messi were chosen smacked of opportunism by FIFA, really, because before they said they’d be playing, they hadn’t previously announced what the qualification would be. It did suggest this was very much looking to maximise marketing opportunities, but has come back to bite them.
‘If you look at [Manchester City’s] Bernardo Silva, for example, he played for Portugal (in Sunday’s Nations League final); he’s then got to play at the Club World Cup for potentially four more exhaustive weeks, he played at the Euros last summer, he’s got the World Cup next year.
‘For some of these players, it’s absolutely shattering what they’re being asked to do.’