The FIFAs billion dollars gamble to bring about a revolution in club football, starts a week on Sunday with a lot of money for grabbing, but doubtful enthusiasm while 32 teams are preparing to dispute the extensive club world cup in 12 stadiums in the United States.
The tournament – designed as a shimmering showcase prior to the World Cup 2026 – had to contend with the prospect of empty seats, along with controversial qualification rules and concern about the well -being of players after a tiring European season.
Inter Miami van Lionel Messi will be in the opening game of Saudi Arabia on 15 June in the opening match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, with tickets that are still widely available days before the kick -off.
A look at the FIFA website shows many tickets available, including for the final of July 13 at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.
The presence of Messi underlines the controversial foundations of the tournament.
Inter Miami gained access by surpassing the regular season classification of Major League Soccer, despite losing the first round of the play -offs – a decision that critics say that Fifa's despair to have Argentina great in their inaugural showpiece.
The FIFA decision to give the host country a place and to assign to Inter Miami underlined the opaque nature of the qualifying criteria for the tournament, which will not contain Liverpool, Barcelona or Napoli, all of which have just been crowned champion of three of the most prestigious competitions in Europe.
Apart from the winners of the most important club competitions of each confederation, teams qualified according to a ranking based on their versions over a four -year period.
There is also the case of Club Leon, the Concacaf Champions Cup winners of 2023, who were excluded from the tournament just over a month ago because of having a different qualification match. The place went to MLS's Los Angeles FC.
Law agreement
A final gasp $ 1 billion TV rights deal with the DAZN sports streaming platform for six months before the tournament means a total of $ 2 billion in expected income.
This led to the FIFA announcing a total prize pool of $ 1 billion, with the winning club received up to $ 125 million.
That figure represents 25% more than Paris St Germain earned from their entire Champions League campaign of 17 games.
But these Larges has not expressed worries about the concern about the well -being of players, where the Global Players Union FIFPRO takes legal steps against FIFA about a tournament that further compresses the valuable recovery time between debilitating seasons.
Furthermore, there is still concern about the play surfaces after last season's Copa America, when many headlines focused on the sub-par conditions and smaller pitch dimensions.
Those pitches, which measure 100 by 64 meters, were 740 square meters smaller than the standard size of FIFA, which led to widespread dissatisfaction among players and coaches.
FIFA has given the guarantees that this time the NFL stadiums that organize the competitions will meet their specifications, which confirms that all locations will of course have grass and will adhere to the standard regulation dimensions of 105 by 68 meters.
Divided into eight groups of four teams, his top candidates include Real Madrid, winners of six of the last 12 Champions League titles, plus the German champions Bayern Munich and 2023 Premier League and Champions League winners Manchester City.
The European Champions Paris St. Germain are the in-form team that enters the tournament after their historic 5-0 thrashing by Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday.
But they have to survive a tough group B with the South American and Brazilian champions Botafogo and 2024 Concacaf winners Seattle Sounders Plus Spanish Giant Atletico Madrid.
Whether you call it football or football, for FIFA the tournament represents a rehearsal of dresses and a referendum on the appetite of America for the sport and the vision of the world administration for his commercial future prior to the 2026 World Championship that is partly organized by the US, Mexico and Canada.