The reformed FIFA Club World Cup with FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund is scheduled to start in just under eight months. The financing and other important things are still unclear.
Gianni Infantino never misses an opportunity to praise his new billion-dollar project. The reformed Club World Cup with FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund will usher in a “new era for club football around the world,” the FIFA President recently announced. A good eight months before kick-off in the USA, crucial questions remain unanswered, including who should pay for all of this.
Media companies and television stations recently received an invitation to an “exclusive, private briefing” from Infantino himself, as the invitation email said. “Emergency meeting” mocked the New York Times. The fact that the FIFA boss is boosting rights sales is at least “extremely unusual,” said an experienced rights dealer who took part in the so-called “broadcaster briefing” a few weeks ago. Infantino had invited along with Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the influential chairman of the European club association ECA and Paris Saint-Germain.
Video switch with Bayern and BVB
According to other participants, BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke and Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen were also present at the video meeting. The two major German clubs are qualified for the tournament from June 15th to July 13th. Those responsible think the competition is great, after all it promises further income. According to the portal “The Athletic”, Europe’s top clubs are each expecting more than 50 million US dollars.
For this, FIFA, which does not yet want to provide any information about the bonuses, would need correspondingly high income. They should come primarily from the TV rights. According to the New York Times, the world association had already negotiated a global streaming contract with Apple to broadcast the tournament. However, this contract, valued at around one billion dollars, was not concluded.
Competition from the Women’s European Championship and Gold Cup
As a result, just a few weeks ago, FIFA put out individual tenders for the media rights for the 2025 tournament in the USA and the 2029 Club World Cup, each with 32 teams and 63 games. In principle, when it is sold, those channels that broadcast the women’s European Championship (July 2nd to 27th) next summer, like ARD and ZDF, will be canceled.
This also applies to the Gold Cup in other TV markets. The North America, Central America and Caribbean Continental Championship (June 14 to July 6) in the United States and Canada is a major TV competition in the participating countries. And the Gold Cup poses a completely different problem.
A lawsuit will be filed with the EU Commission
Gold Cup or Club World Cup? This question will be asked by those players who have qualified with their national team and club. This could be particularly problematic for players from the three Mexican clubs and the two US clubs.
The event, lavishly advertised by Infantino, is already controversial because the expansion of the tournament means more games are on the program and the industry’s top stars are threatened with a summer without a real break. FIFA argues against this and cites statistics that the burden on individual players is not increasing.
The league association European Leagues and the players’ union Fifpro want to file a complaint with the EU Commission against the world association FIFA, primarily because of the enlarged Club World Cup. The scheduling and expansion of the Club World Cup shows “that the mental and physical health of the participating players is not taken into account,” wrote Fifpro. Experience has shown, however, that it will take a long time for the EU Commission to provide clarification.
What happens if you change clubs during the World Cup?
The Club World Cup also presents FIFA with a legal problem of a completely different kind. Around the middle of the tournament there could be professionals whose contracts with the participating clubs expire. Or other players who will be under contract with one of the clubs from July 1st.
As things currently stand, the contracts of several footballers at Bayern are expiring, including Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and Joshua Kimmich. For the English champions, this also affects star players Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gündogan.
How should clubs deal with this? The future of the stars mentioned is likely to be clarified much sooner. FIFA has also already looked at the contract regulations in order to show the affected clubs options in advance and to clear up possible misunderstandings.
Top clubs should come to an agreement among themselves
One crucial rule: A player can only play for one club during the Club World Cup. This means that no one can play for Club can be. This only happens at the will of the respective member associations.
According to the information, there will also be a time window from June 27th to July 3rd during the Club World Cup itself. During this period, clubs may replace players whose contracts expire during the tournament. At the same time, FIFA called on the participating clubs and players to find appropriate solutions for expiring contracts in order to make it easier for professionals to take part.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
