The FIFA Club World Cup collects Tempo after the opening round of Group Games. Here our reporter Kaveh Solhekol answers some important questions from the US.
The New-Look Club World Cup, with 32 teams, started on June 14 with last place on July 13.
The opening week has witnessed a thump of 10 goals, a dominant performance of the European PSG champions and mixed results for other European heavyweights. Some people present have been very low, but we have seen passionate fans on the street and in the stands and Wednesday's game between Real Madrid and Al Hilal was excellent entertainment.
Why are those present so low?
Kaveh says: Despite images of thousands of empty seats on some games, FIFA is happy with presence so far. The average presence is almost 39,000 after 10 games and that will rise considerably in the last phases of the tournament.
It is not all downfall and gloom. FIFA says it has already sold 1.5 million tickets and many games are well attended. The opening match between Inter Miami and Al Ahly was almost sold out, PSG defeated Atletico Madrid in Los Angeles for more than 80,000 fans and 55,574 people watched how Boca Juniors signed with Benfica.
Of course there have been too many empty seats on some games – especially Ulsan vs Mamelodi Sundowns and Chelsea vs Los Angeles FC – but FIFA expects a large audience when Chelsea Flamengo plays in Philadelphia on Friday.
Has a lot been made about the ticket prices for the competitions? How is it being received in the guest cities?
Kaveh says: FIFA's dynamic ticket policy has been controversial, but it has led you to buy tickets relatively cheap for some games. General admission tickets for the Chelsea opening match were $ 51 (£ 38) and they were only a few dollars for Boca Juniors vs Benfica in Miami on Monday.
How accessible are the stadiums at the tournament? Are they easy to reach? What is the infrastructure?
Kaveh says: FIFA uses a mix of stages of different sizes and the most impressive so far are the ones used by the NFL. They are also used for the World Cup 2026, so this tournament is a useful dry run for next summer. One of the reasons why FIFA likes to hostt tournaments here – except the last boundary of the US – is that the stages and the infrastructure are already present.
Do the kick -off times find like the right one?
Kaveh says: games start in the afternoon and that fits more with the television audience in the UK than fans in the US.
The East Coast here is five hours behind the UK, so a local kick -off of 3 p.m. is 8 p.m. in the United Kingdom – which is good news for broadcasters and fans watching TV at home.
The disappointing 22,000 turnout for the Chelsea opening match in Atlanta is blamed for the local kick -off time of 3 p.m. on a Monday. Two years ago there were more than 70,000 in the same stadium when Chelsea Newcastle United played friendly in a pre-season.
Which clubs are the most popular in the United States?
Kaveh says: The Premier League is the most popular foreign competition in the US, but the biggest draw on this tournament is Real Madrid. They play all their games on packaged terrain and they create a large buzz where they also play. It is all far removed from former head coach Carlo Ancelottis who quickly withdrew reactions that they would withdraw the tournament because they did not get money from FIFA to play.
How much interest is the American audience in this kind of football?
Kaveh says: Many people say they are aware that the Clubworld Cup is going on and that games live live in many places such as bars, restaurants, airports and even on flights. That does not mean that it has recorded the imagination of the sporting audience, but its coverage is not difficult to find if you are a football fan.
And for those fans, it feels special to let large clubs play from all over the world in the US in the US instead of just friendly competitions.
Can visitors be a problem in next summer's world cup?
Kaveh says: That is a possibility with the tournament that expands from 32 to 48 teams, but remember that Mexico and Canada will also work together in 2026, so some extra games will be spread over three countries.
The fact that 16 more countries still play in the World Cup makes it more likely that there will be some games with low attendees in the group stage.
That said, group stage games at major tournaments are not always sold out and there have been disappointing attendees at some games on previous world cups.
FIFA is convinced that those present will not be a problem next summer and who knows, if recent tournaments are something to enter into, the 2026 edition will end with some well -known voices that claim that it has been the best world cup ever.