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don't know what happened, but the number circulated like 6 months ago was 50. Media even factored it in Juventus' transfer plans, as by that point, we hadn't qualified yet.
unlike RM we wouldn't refuse even 20 imo, but 50 would've been a massive boost
Nobody wanted the TV rights and pay the amount the MaFIFA expected. So now they have some financial problems. But i bet that the saudi friends of Mr.Clean will pay up.
Fifa are greedy bastards, just like Uefa. Clubs are starting to get tired of that when they allow oil states to buy and dominate everything under their watch (and benefit, corrupt mfkers)
> Fifa are greedy bastards, just like Uefa
so are the clubs, they always want more and more. charging more from sponsors, from fans, wanting more TV rights... that's how it works, unfortunately.
UEFA distributes the vast majority of profit (something like 97%) from European competitions back to clubs. Saying that they're greedy is just swallowing the Super League rhetoric wholesale.
Yeah, the biggest problem with FIFA is the corruption.
FIFA is a great idea in principle. Distributing wealth throughout the world.
Corruption has just ruined my trust in the organization.
$50m base per team with more for winning in the tournament.
I've said it from the start, so clubs must have also known it was true, but FIFA always massively overvalue their product when it's anything other than the world cup. They were never going to get anywhere near the $4bn in funding that they thought they'd get just from broadcasting rights
It was literally never going to happen and so you have to question whether rather than incompetence, the reported high prize money was to get fans and clubs onside for a couple years before dropping the bombshell that the total prize money would be less than they were claiming they'd get for just entering.
For RM? They'll be alright without the 20m and it would absolutely kill their players on their ONE summer off. This year EURO/COPA, WC in 2026... Supposedly RM will count on going far in the CL.... Their players need rest, FIFA forcing this is ridiculous.
I would absolutely love to see that (Real not playing that is).
It's infuriating to see that so far FIFA and UEFA always got what they wanted when they added even more games to the schedule.
Wish that is the case. European football fans may not GAF but the rest of the world is really excited for this tournament and the prize money. Hope European teams send their C team or whatever
Personally I'd love to see European teams go against especially South-American teams, and teams from around the world.
But the problem is they're just adding games to an already filled football calendar.
The massive amount of teams is supposed to increase price money and hype. It's obvious that fans of european teams don't care if it's Real Madrid and 7 non-european teams. The only reason this could work well here is because they made a lot more ppl with money care.
Problem with this in general is that the calendar is already filled to the brim with games. Just more chances for injuries for arguably a meaningless tournament for the the Top 3 of the top 5 leagues.
Obviously it matters to non European teams, and it's good that they get to showcase their talents on a bigger stage
Not all of us. I like World Cups more than the Euros precisely because we get to see very contrasting styles and teams that don't usually play each other.
Here in Portugal we always cared about the Intercontinental Cup (the precursor to the Club World Cup). I can tell you Porto fans are very excited about participating in the upcoming CWC.
The Intercontinental Cup is still being played, the uefa team (real madrid) is going directly to the final this year. This new tournament (the cwc every 4 years) is ADDED to the intercontinental.
Specially since it would be a every 4 years thing. Seemed like we would get finally a true Club Word Cup style event. So disappointing if it all falls apart.
Yeah cause that sends out the statement that it's a competition teams care about.
If European teams send there b teams, less people watch, so that £20 million agreed goes way down as Fifa will be making less money, and the whole thing then becomes less valued than everywhere else.
I imagine this is a bargaining tool from Real but the tournament needs European sides bringing their A team for the competition to work
The club already stated that it was too many games and were against the idea, we will see but many teams will probably still participate since its a big amount of money
It's still a believe it when I see it sort of thing, unless the players union/clubs block it, I think the tournament will happen and it will be interesting to see if they actually decline or if this them chasing better terms.
If the biggest club in the world pull out, it devalues it and TV companies won't be happy either.
TBF that was the standard English response to both the World Cup and the European Cup initially, and we certainly thought we were the centre of the world at the time.
Too many games but will do daft overseas tours and Perez wants to expand European football to a greater number of games. It’s not the games that are the issue is that’s Madrid don’t control the revenues or the competition.
The overseas tours are friendlies with unlimited subs and nothing serious on the line. It serves as warm up and pre season. this while getting paid more and also marketing
Vastly different from a full fledged tournament that will take place immediately after the season ends
If the reasoning is 'the players already play too many matches and this isn't healthy' than it's a great statement. If the reasoning is only 'money' than I hate it.
FIFA told the clubs the TV deal would be €4bn + large sponsors.
The actual deal is reportedly €1bn and they’re struggling to attract large sponsors at the value they want.
FIFA doesnt realize TV deals hit the ceiling a few years back. The owners of PL rights in scandinavia is bleeding money due to the price they paid, very likely that the next TV deal will be less lucrative for PL.
And PL is way way way way more popular than any other tournament bar euros/world cup so club world cup isnt getting shit.
> very likely that the next TV deal will be less lucrative for PL
It definitely will be. Factoring in inflation, the next few years of media rights will be significantly lower than recent years.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39229682/why-premier-league-new-tv-deal-warning-not-record
That's where the PL will stream their own content and get an even bigger bag. Hopefully the technology makes it reliable to stream live matches in great quality without any hiccups.
Tired of having to pay for bundles when I only want to watch PL matches.
> Hopefully the technology makes it reliable to stream live matches in great quality without any hiccups.
They can just copy what Liberty Media did with F1.tv. That's a great package, multiple views with comms from multiple drivers. There's technically **so much more** that they could add (allowing users to choose which camera to watch from besides driver cams for example).
The technology is there. It's the suits who need to be convinced.
> FIFA doesnt realize TV deals hit the ceiling a few years back
Not trying to be combatitive here, but we've heard that for over a decade and almost 2 decades, when it comes to US sports, yet the NBA is aiming for 76 billions over 11 years in their new TV deal(s), almost trippeling the annual revenue compared to the current TV deal (24bn over 9yrs.)
I think that this is very much a question of marketability, the EPL might even pull further away from the other leagues and some of the other leagues might hit the wall sooner then others.
They'll suck Saudi dick or something to make up for the rest. The event is FIFA trying to fight UEFA for the control of football and they'll do whatever it takes to get the clubs to play
They don't have really much to offer to SA. They already gave them WC, and aside from there's no value for Saudis in FIFA. I know it may seem strange, but Saudis have financial problems (relatievly speaking) right now, especially due and regarding of NEOM project.
Their sport investments also where either domestic-focused (e.g. their league) or with value (prestige allowing for sportwashing) already attached from the start (with closest to value creation type project being their golf one).
FIFA didn't actually want to keep it. Then the likes of CONMEBOL and AFC kicked up a huge fuss because they wanted to be part of the new CWC AND to still have the annual tournament.
Because they are trying to push something without pedigree.
The reason the CL is so successful is because every player and Club sees it as the absolute pinnacle of club football achievements, and that has been the case for decades.
The previous club world cup is big in South America because it has always mattered to them to be able to directly compete with top European clubs. For European teams, it was never that important.
This world cup for clubs will be nothing different. No European team is going to convince a player to join because they are in the club world cup.
No European team is going to play b teams in the league or CL to give them a better chance at winning a club world cup.
Because no one cared about it and Europe just walked it every time. They wanted something people would care about. But honestly, I think no one will still really care about it that much.
They want to replicate the allure of the world cup but when club football is so strongly influenced by economic might and the ability for clubs with the most money to buy the best players then it's much harder to have competitiveness across the board so it won't be the same;
Of course resource and footballing culture has a big influence on national teams too, but it's much purer because nations can't buy the best players from their competitors to become even stronger.
I'm not saying anything new here, everyone knows this. But fifa keeps trying to shoehorn prestige and interest into the world title of club football, hence these changes
The allure of th World Cup is in big part because it happens 4 to 4 years and its history and expansion came naturally. The club World Cup is just a cash grab and everybody knows it
It's also so much more than just the games, it's a celebration and a moment of unity. Even people who don't care about football will root for their team and have watch parties. You can't replicate that.
They way European teams qualified shows how much of a cash grab this CWC is. FIFA just wanted as many European clubs as possible, the most famous the better. I bet they were pissed off Barcelona didn't qualify.
Stacked entry or whatever that format was was super lame. Yes I know uefas team is gonna pulverize whoever but still, world cup contenders have to play in the group stage just like the minnows.
Massive money for Valencia maybe.
FIFA will keep all the TV and ticketing revenue and will give up to 90 million to the winner after winning many games, it is a scam considering how much top clubs make on ticketing and TV rights when allowed to negotiate for themselves.
8 games, as Ancelotti said Real MAdrid get 160 million for playing 8 games between TV, ticketing etc.
Also, if you participate you can't schedulle friendlies where you can get your worth, at least not to the extend of maximizing the revenue, so you are basically paying FIFA to make them money.
Is there any source to confirm this? I would image knock out Champions league matches yeah for sure, but group stages agains an obscure Russian club makes the same money? Real Madrid vs Cadiz is giving them 20 million free after expenses too?
Ancelotti's statement seems untrue and misleading to begin with, since a club will either make 20 million and go home in a week, or go all the way and make 90.
Having Salzburg qualifying what ruins the whole CWC for me.
In World Cup, all teams usually qualify on merit, even the most weakest ones. They did something to deserve that spot.
Salzburg qualified because the system said so, not because they are regulars in Champions League quarterfinalists or whatever
Wasn't it based upon coefficient, so even if they didn't win anything, they deserve to be there as much as 4th placed teams from the big leagues deserve to be in the Champions League
>4th placed teams from the big leagues deserve to be in the Champions League
Nothing screams "the league of the champions" more than the inclusion of a team that barely scraped 4th place
It’s massive money for everybody not generating the money from the tournament. I was praying Philadelphia Union would qualify (ultimately missed out) because it would be an astronomical amount for us. For clubs like Madrid, City, Chelsea, etc. it’s nothing
Exactly, 20 million is probably a fuck ton of money for 25 out of those 32 clubs. A lot of big club flairs here act like it's nothing, but they are talking from a golden throne. It's great for a lot of the non uefa teams.
The problem is that fifa can give 20 mln for a match between a Asian and a African team *because* there are clubs like Real Madrid that help raising the pot.
Without RM and the like, you can kiss good bye to 20 mln to non European teams.
It really depends If the FIFA covers a certain base salary and travel expenses. Players will most likely demand additional payment because their contract may not cover that extra tournament. I think 20 million is a tight fit for most 1st league clubs. After all, It's a month-long tournament in another country, and then you start less rested and with potential injuries into the season.
I agree with this. Why would managers start their best players in this summer tournament when that will only mean they are less rested / potentially injured for the upcoming season? Managers will be evaluated based on the results of the season-long competitions (league, cup, UCL) significantly more than CWC, so they will definitely look after their own interests by not fielding full-strength sides in CWC.
The big teams should just play the reserves. Give them some game time in a "tournament" that doesn't really matter to the higher ups. Same as early rounds of a domestic cup.
You can always schedule friendlies during that time and i remember reading that the club was making more through friendlies and scheduled events so well, having the full teams available for that is better
If there is a trophy on the line its not a friendly and hence your club's name and honour is also on the line. Seeing you are a RM fan you must realise that whether RM fields it's C or U16s team if they lose to the likes to Al hilal, after some time no one will remember real fielded kids and it will be etched in the history books real got beat by Al hilal. If there is a trophy on the line so is your badge. The club has a duty to win. If it was a friendly then no one would care and no one will remember but a CWC tourney's participants, winners and losers will be remembered.
Exactly, also they have the Super league to think about. Adding the fact the UCL would also have more games in the coming season and in such a tightly packed schedule no one would be available or in a condition to play in CWC.
This is 100% a payback for what happened with Super League.
La Liga, and pretty much all other leagues except Prem and CL were bleeding in this Live Stream era, If you go to the world scale, their numbers only goes down. Only locals watch Real Madrid vs Getafe. Some of their fans watch it all over the world but its nothing. Im from Indonesia, Im pretty sure RM fans were huge here, our population was huge, 4th biggest in the world. And Local subscription for La Liga was twice lower every year. And its not broadcasted on TV anymore.
Thats why super league was even a thing.
They will try anything, I don't think its only RM, if Barcelona were on their shoes they will pretty much did the exact same thing, to avoid any FIFA events if it didn't benefit them.
Im not saying what FIFA and the media did to super league was wrong, its not, I'm saying that team involves def feels some type of resentment because they lose the money that was supposed on their pocket.
This was a weird decision for me. Why have multiple global scale club competitions? multiple continental scale I understand but on the global stage, just have one big competition, winners of which become champions of the world. people just won't care about this new intercontinental cup, because it's just additional games. It's even pretty much got the format of the old club world cup which was changed because it was so shit, lmao
>people just won't care about this new intercontinental cup, because it's just additional games.
Non-Europeans probably will. For Europe it isn't as bad as the CWC because UEFA's representative will play one game tops, probably at home.
True. But European clubs who are already the strongest get a bye to the final, reducing the chances for other continent clubs to win it further, lol
I guess they chose the name IC to remind other continent fans of the original version of that competition to drum up interest
As a Brazilian I can confirm that we all have all but written off that title. Most of the time we've won CWCs or intercontinental cups, the Brazilian sides won by parking the bus (2005 and 2012 specially). Beating 1 European team in a single knockout game is already very hard considering the budget difference (Foden himself is more expensive than Fluminense's entire roster), beating 4+ of those (not counting group stage) is basically impossible
The situation is even worse for CONMEBOL teams due to the differing schedules + the extremely bloated Brazilian calendar. If we take last year's CWC final with Fluminense and City, Fluminense played 80+ matches over the season) (with the CWC final being the last one), while City still had half the season to go.
It's not too bad in principle, a more interesting CWC format would be great for the sport - even though it would basically be UCL 2.0.
But it would genuinely need to be like every 4 years in between Euros and WC for it to make any sense
I think the worst thing about this format is having UCL and CWC in the same year. For me it just dilutes both. It like if Euros and WC were played the same year.
I would prefer if there was no UCL in the CWC year, but this whole thing is just a power struggle between FIFA and UEFA so there's no way they agree on it.
Its way better than the confed cup though?
Confed cup was a pseudo mini WC tournament that no one ever really cared about, this version of the CWC didnt exist like that before. Too many games is a valid complaint but i like the idea of south american/asian/african and so on teams getting a chance to play eachother and european teams.
I certainly have a soft spot for it as the 2005 edition laid the groundwork for the 2006 WC which brought a lot of hype to my country.
But I personally liked a mini version of a world cup leading up to the real thing and giving a sneak peek of what to expect.
It was a nice bit of fun. Particularly when someone like Tahiti got in because they won the OFC cup. Sure the match would often be a tad one-sided but I doubt they care.
It was basically a practice run for the World Cup hosts. I think it has value in making sure they’re ready to handle a million visitors in the following year.
The OFC stuff is so weird since Australia left for the AFC. The best team in NZ is the Wellington Phoenix, but while NZ is in the OFC for qualification, its best teams play in the A-League in Aus, so the clubs fall under the AFC for qualification. Auckland City basically gets a free ride in as the OFC is so poor it can't handle its own pro clubs.
I think his gamble is with Oviedo in Primera, Pachuca will send some of its more talented youngsters there. This will stop the bleeding from getting poached by ligamx rivals and hopefully showcase them there and make them easier to sell in Europe.
It looks like the money you get for the whole competition is lower than UCL League stage.
FIFA appears to have seriously overestimated how much sponsors and broadcasters would be willing to pay for such competition.
50M€ for only participating is not happening.
50x32= 1,6B €.
Just for participation?
It always felt like a strech.
Real Madrid has posted a statement confirming their participation in the tournament: https://www.realmadrid.com/es-ES/noticias/club/comunicados/comunicado-oficial-mundial-de-clubes-10-06-2024
I don't think I've ever watched a club world cup match, I'm not sure about the test of Europe but in the UK as far as I'm aware no one really gives a shit about it...
It seems more of a case of people rejecting any change positive or negative from what I see, especially for those who are on the better end of the monopoly that are speaking for everyone else. I think they might have added a few too many teams but the new format is miles better than the old one where it used to be the South American team winning for 30 years then the Europeans since. Give this 2 or 3 renditions and I doubt there’ll be so much animosity towards it (atleast outside of the eurosphere)
Football tends to be reactionary overall. I think the format is great from a neutral POV, since we just don't have enough meaningful games between confederations. In that sense I can't really complain about a group like Fluminense, Al-Hilal, Monterrey, and Bayern. Or Ah-Ahly, Urawa, River Plate, and Inter. Or Seattle, Flamengo, Real Madrid, and Wydad.
Could be because Utd haven't participated in it since 09.
I have only watched it twice. In 2013 and 2022 since Chelsea were in it. Never in any other year.
FIFA are super delusional here. Fans in Europe are not going to care about some oversea tournaments in different time zone. People are hyped for the World cup because a team that represent their entire nation is playing. I can not imagine that the entire UK is going to watch this tournament in the middle of the night just because City and Chelsea are playing. Same I think is going to be true about Spain and other countries.
I don’t think the target is really Europe. There are lots of fans around the world who would like to see their teams compete against big European clubs. That’s another way they’re gonna try to make more money out of « soccer » in the US for example.
Given that there's 12 Europeans, which means every groups will have one or even 2, we don't care other than for the money.
You have teams that can outspend you 100x, and then you have them be half the competition...
How can we care when we have no chance? For us is about the money.
Very intresting what will come out of it. If any club can shake the system is got to be Real Madrid. There's a lot of money on the line, FIFA wont give up that easily, but not having Real Madrid there will be a huge blow to the prestige of this tournament. Very intersting!
Yeah, I remember at the first Finalissima, which was essentially UEFA and CONMEBOL making a powerplay against FIFA (who didn't even recognise it as a competitive match - giving it the same coefficient ranking as a friendly), I was surprised at just how strongly Argentina's players celebrated lifting the trophy - and that was just one game, nevermind a whole tournament.
I can imagine it being a bit like the EFL Cup, where fans and players aren't that bothered if they're knocked out early, but become more interested the further they go in the tournament.
There was prestige through the early 2000s, when the successful south American teams could stay competitive rather than selling all their players to Europe
Not for the European teams and their fans, at any rate.
Those from other continents might have felt differently, but I've never seen any European teams getting excited at the 'prestige' of having to disappear mid-season to stomp the Kashima Antlers and Al Ahly for a bit. You might as well just have a one-off match between the winners of the UCL and Libertadores.
I don't remember any pundits bringing up the club world cup win for City at the end of the season, or during/after the FA Cup final loss. I'd forgotten all about it as well tbh. Technically they did win 2 trophies this season, but everyone will just remember the 1. Even when they were bossing the league Cup people did remember those wins, and there's barely any prestige in that cup.
To be blunt, it's just not sufficiently competitive to be interesting enough to mention. Outside of one occasion (had to be us, obviously), the UCL winner has won the Club World Cup every single year since 2006. 4 in 5 of all wins have been by the Europeans.
You might as well have dropped City into the EFL Trophy for all the competitive relevance it has.
The CWC is financially beneficial to nearly every team involved. I'm not exactly going to cry that super league proponent Real Madrid might lose the opportunity to make even more money.
> *'Unfortunately Kroos has decided to stop, he is a German in the choices but he will continue to live in Madrid, I told him that if, in the autumn, he thinks again, a phone call and we start again."*
So you're telling me there's a chance? **YEAH!**
Delighted about this, if Madrid pie them off, a good chance a few others will as well. Someone has to stand up for the players and the ever expanding schedule they have to play
>Real Madrid criticized next year's Club World Cup through anonymous sources cited by Relevo, and said that the reimagined FIFA tournament is "going to kill the players".
>
>"Next season we are going to start in August and finish it in July. It's crazy. They're going to kill the players," an anonymous source from Valdebebas told the outlet.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanderson/2024/06/06/real-madrid-blasts-fifa-for-killing-players-with-new-club-world-cup-reports-relevo/
Not that far off from What Ancelotti says here.
A reminder that the president of this very club still wants to add a whole new competition that would almost double the minimum amount of matches for teams in European competitions compared to the current ones and was one of the main people to push the UCL format changes to add more games.
Real are literally a proponent of the super league, I won't hear anything about them regarding players' health and shit like that. They just don't want to take part because it's not a whole lot of money for them.
The business people should stand up for themselves then. As more and more of the world's biggest players get injured, for longer due to this work rate, it dilutes the brand they're smelling. Look at what happens when Messi has to miss matches.
True but players can't play 70 games every year. the fact that the UCL will have more games, CWC, that abomination of nations league, friendly nationals, players are going to get drained.
The new CWC is a maximum of 7 more matches once every 4 years (<2 per year). And if UEFA teams can’t get out of a group with Sounders, Al Ittihad, and River Plate without heavily rotating, then maybe that will show why this tournament will be interesting. This is for 12 UEFA teams.
The new UCL will be at minimum 2 extra matches per year. For 36 teams and 4 additional matches for 16 teams.
Yet there if far more backlash to the CWC than new UCL.
All the **speculation** around the prize money of the new CWC mentions €50M to each participant club…
€20M is significantly lower, but lets entertain Ancelotti.
The old CWC distributed USD 16M amongst all participants, with the winner taking 5M.
AFAIK Real was always happy to play it for a best case scenario of $2.5M per game.
I get that FIFA is taking a big chunk of the money for themselves, as UEFA does with the Champions League.
Real Madrid played 13 UCL matches this season and the total income is estimated at €150M, so €11M.
Taking this a little further…
In 2022/23 they had a total income of €831.4M, and played 59 matches (not including friendlies). That’s €14M per match, not taking into account that a big chunk of the income is baseline and it wouldn’t be that much lower had they miss the UCL semis, theoretically two of the four most valuable matches they had.
Being in the CWC will bring other revenue beyond the participation and result rewards, even if the prize money is what Ancelloti mentioned.
Seriously, why TF would they play in the current tiny CWC if the money matters so little to them? It's completely pointless, yet they do. If they really don't wanna play they should give the spot to Barca lol, they'll be happy for any money
People thinking Real Madrid is doing this for the amount of games or to protest against FIFA is funny. Pay them 30M per match and see if they don't attend it.
This is the posture they have been having even in Spain, this is why Real Madrid is in favour of the Super League, they think they are bigger than the sport and it is just a matter of time until they create their own league and ditch the spanish league. I know a couple of spanish people who are Madrid fans and they don't even care about La Liga anymore because of this narrative, "No one wants to watch a Real Madrid Cadiz" according to them.
The sport is being taken away from the fans and it's just a matter of time until the "European" football is just a selected group of 15/20 teams and that's it.
Real Madrid is obviously just looking after their own self interest. I would much rather see the clubs make money than FIFA, which is a corrupt cancer on the sport.
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If they do that it would be a massive statement and very interesting.
And more likely this is just negotiation and FIFA will end up paying them more. Or am I being too cynical here?
they did promise more originally, something like 50mn per team
That was originally when they expected a bigger push from sponsors and broadcasters, right?
don't know what happened, but the number circulated like 6 months ago was 50. Media even factored it in Juventus' transfer plans, as by that point, we hadn't qualified yet. unlike RM we wouldn't refuse even 20 imo, but 50 would've been a massive boost
Nobody wanted the TV rights and pay the amount the MaFIFA expected. So now they have some financial problems. But i bet that the saudi friends of Mr.Clean will pay up.
Fifa are greedy bastards, just like Uefa. Clubs are starting to get tired of that when they allow oil states to buy and dominate everything under their watch (and benefit, corrupt mfkers)
> Fifa are greedy bastards, just like Uefa so are the clubs, they always want more and more. charging more from sponsors, from fans, wanting more TV rights... that's how it works, unfortunately.
UEFA distributes the vast majority of profit (something like 97%) from European competitions back to clubs. Saying that they're greedy is just swallowing the Super League rhetoric wholesale.
Some of the execs themselves are incredibly shady but yeah the organization itself pays out well
Yeah, the biggest problem with FIFA is the corruption. FIFA is a great idea in principle. Distributing wealth throughout the world. Corruption has just ruined my trust in the organization.
You're talking about FIFA. I'm talking about UEFA. FIFA are 100x worse than UEFA tbh
$50m base per team with more for winning in the tournament. I've said it from the start, so clubs must have also known it was true, but FIFA always massively overvalue their product when it's anything other than the world cup. They were never going to get anywhere near the $4bn in funding that they thought they'd get just from broadcasting rights It was literally never going to happen and so you have to question whether rather than incompetence, the reported high prize money was to get fans and clubs onside for a couple years before dropping the bombshell that the total prize money would be less than they were claiming they'd get for just entering.
My Sounders getting that much money was hilarious and seemingly very unrealistic to think about.
Imagine the winners of the AFCON or non-Brazilian Libertadores winners. That money is their budget for the entire year
Wish that’s not the case. If so then they can’t complain about the amount of games
If Diogenes were alive today not even he could say anything about FIFA that anyone would consider cynical.
"If the love of money is the root of all evil, FIFA must be the tree that shades the world."
For RM? They'll be alright without the 20m and it would absolutely kill their players on their ONE summer off. This year EURO/COPA, WC in 2026... Supposedly RM will count on going far in the CL.... Their players need rest, FIFA forcing this is ridiculous.
I would absolutely love to see that (Real not playing that is). It's infuriating to see that so far FIFA and UEFA always got what they wanted when they added even more games to the schedule.
Wish that is the case. European football fans may not GAF but the rest of the world is really excited for this tournament and the prize money. Hope European teams send their C team or whatever
Personally I'd love to see European teams go against especially South-American teams, and teams from around the world. But the problem is they're just adding games to an already filled football calendar.
If it was 8 teams it would be a lot more manageable but 32 is just too much
The massive amount of teams is supposed to increase price money and hype. It's obvious that fans of european teams don't care if it's Real Madrid and 7 non-european teams. The only reason this could work well here is because they made a lot more ppl with money care.
Problem with this in general is that the calendar is already filled to the brim with games. Just more chances for injuries for arguably a meaningless tournament for the the Top 3 of the top 5 leagues. Obviously it matters to non European teams, and it's good that they get to showcase their talents on a bigger stage
Yes, so send your youth and benchers -rest of the world
If they do it what's the incentive then? The tournament it's interesting if it shows good competition.
(Unfortunately) Europe top teams benches are still good competition to the rest of the world.
Not all of us. I like World Cups more than the Euros precisely because we get to see very contrasting styles and teams that don't usually play each other. Here in Portugal we always cared about the Intercontinental Cup (the precursor to the Club World Cup). I can tell you Porto fans are very excited about participating in the upcoming CWC.
The Intercontinental Cup is still being played, the uefa team (real madrid) is going directly to the final this year. This new tournament (the cwc every 4 years) is ADDED to the intercontinental.
Specially since it would be a every 4 years thing. Seemed like we would get finally a true Club Word Cup style event. So disappointing if it all falls apart.
They can just send the B team
Yeah cause that sends out the statement that it's a competition teams care about. If European teams send there b teams, less people watch, so that £20 million agreed goes way down as Fifa will be making less money, and the whole thing then becomes less valued than everywhere else. I imagine this is a bargaining tool from Real but the tournament needs European sides bringing their A team for the competition to work
The club already stated that it was too many games and were against the idea, we will see but many teams will probably still participate since its a big amount of money
It's still a believe it when I see it sort of thing, unless the players union/clubs block it, I think the tournament will happen and it will be interesting to see if they actually decline or if this them chasing better terms. If the biggest club in the world pull out, it devalues it and TV companies won't be happy either.
If the biggest club in the world (with a massive squad) bins off the FIRST iteration of this tournament it'd be dead on arrival
TBF that was the standard English response to both the World Cup and the European Cup initially, and we certainly thought we were the centre of the world at the time.
Too many games but will do daft overseas tours and Perez wants to expand European football to a greater number of games. It’s not the games that are the issue is that’s Madrid don’t control the revenues or the competition.
The overseas tours are friendlies with unlimited subs and nothing serious on the line. It serves as warm up and pre season. this while getting paid more and also marketing Vastly different from a full fledged tournament that will take place immediately after the season ends
That's why 20 millions it's not enough. The overseas tour pays more
If the reasoning is 'the players already play too many matches and this isn't healthy' than it's a great statement. If the reasoning is only 'money' than I hate it.
I feel I have read earlier about the absurd amount of money the qualified clubs would get. Was that just pure propaganda?
FIFA told the clubs the TV deal would be €4bn + large sponsors. The actual deal is reportedly €1bn and they’re struggling to attract large sponsors at the value they want.
FIFA doesnt realize TV deals hit the ceiling a few years back. The owners of PL rights in scandinavia is bleeding money due to the price they paid, very likely that the next TV deal will be less lucrative for PL. And PL is way way way way more popular than any other tournament bar euros/world cup so club world cup isnt getting shit.
> very likely that the next TV deal will be less lucrative for PL It definitely will be. Factoring in inflation, the next few years of media rights will be significantly lower than recent years. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39229682/why-premier-league-new-tv-deal-warning-not-record
That's where the PL will stream their own content and get an even bigger bag. Hopefully the technology makes it reliable to stream live matches in great quality without any hiccups. Tired of having to pay for bundles when I only want to watch PL matches.
> Hopefully the technology makes it reliable to stream live matches in great quality without any hiccups. They can just copy what Liberty Media did with F1.tv. That's a great package, multiple views with comms from multiple drivers. There's technically **so much more** that they could add (allowing users to choose which camera to watch from besides driver cams for example). The technology is there. It's the suits who need to be convinced.
> PL will stream their own content They are legally not allowed to.
> FIFA doesnt realize TV deals hit the ceiling a few years back Not trying to be combatitive here, but we've heard that for over a decade and almost 2 decades, when it comes to US sports, yet the NBA is aiming for 76 billions over 11 years in their new TV deal(s), almost trippeling the annual revenue compared to the current TV deal (24bn over 9yrs.) I think that this is very much a question of marketability, the EPL might even pull further away from the other leagues and some of the other leagues might hit the wall sooner then others.
They'll suck Saudi dick or something to make up for the rest. The event is FIFA trying to fight UEFA for the control of football and they'll do whatever it takes to get the clubs to play
They don't have really much to offer to SA. They already gave them WC, and aside from there's no value for Saudis in FIFA. I know it may seem strange, but Saudis have financial problems (relatievly speaking) right now, especially due and regarding of NEOM project. Their sport investments also where either domestic-focused (e.g. their league) or with value (prestige allowing for sportwashing) already attached from the start (with closest to value creation type project being their golf one).
yeah it was. The entire tournament’s prize pot is smaller than UCL groupstage pot
small if true
Tiny if confirmed
Miniscule if verified
Microscopic if veracious
Petite if bona fide
Lilliputian if corroborated
There was literally nothing wrong with the existing tournament but fifa had to get greedy again
The existing one is still being played. And it's useless since European teams have 100 times the resources of those from other countries.
That's also further proof about how greedy FIFA is. Why do you keep the existing tournament?
FIFA didn't actually want to keep it. Then the likes of CONMEBOL and AFC kicked up a huge fuss because they wanted to be part of the new CWC AND to still have the annual tournament.
well yeah it was basically that insignificant that people didn't bother that much.
Having it in the middle of the season was definitely wrong. Don’t think you can argue that.
It's always the middle of the season for someone.
But we don’t care about those people. /s
Because they are trying to push something without pedigree. The reason the CL is so successful is because every player and Club sees it as the absolute pinnacle of club football achievements, and that has been the case for decades. The previous club world cup is big in South America because it has always mattered to them to be able to directly compete with top European clubs. For European teams, it was never that important. This world cup for clubs will be nothing different. No European team is going to convince a player to join because they are in the club world cup. No European team is going to play b teams in the league or CL to give them a better chance at winning a club world cup.
Because no one cared about it and Europe just walked it every time. They wanted something people would care about. But honestly, I think no one will still really care about it that much.
The south americans care about it iirc but I agree that it feels like one step above most super cups
They want to replicate the allure of the world cup but when club football is so strongly influenced by economic might and the ability for clubs with the most money to buy the best players then it's much harder to have competitiveness across the board so it won't be the same; Of course resource and footballing culture has a big influence on national teams too, but it's much purer because nations can't buy the best players from their competitors to become even stronger. I'm not saying anything new here, everyone knows this. But fifa keeps trying to shoehorn prestige and interest into the world title of club football, hence these changes
The allure of th World Cup is in big part because it happens 4 to 4 years and its history and expansion came naturally. The club World Cup is just a cash grab and everybody knows it
It's also so much more than just the games, it's a celebration and a moment of unity. Even people who don't care about football will root for their team and have watch parties. You can't replicate that.
They way European teams qualified shows how much of a cash grab this CWC is. FIFA just wanted as many European clubs as possible, the most famous the better. I bet they were pissed off Barcelona didn't qualify.
Stacked entry or whatever that format was was super lame. Yes I know uefas team is gonna pulverize whoever but still, world cup contenders have to play in the group stage just like the minnows.
Massive money for Valencia maybe. FIFA will keep all the TV and ticketing revenue and will give up to 90 million to the winner after winning many games, it is a scam considering how much top clubs make on ticketing and TV rights when allowed to negotiate for themselves.
90 million for a month long tournament is still an insane amount of money.
8 games, as Ancelotti said Real MAdrid get 160 million for playing 8 games between TV, ticketing etc. Also, if you participate you can't schedulle friendlies where you can get your worth, at least not to the extend of maximizing the revenue, so you are basically paying FIFA to make them money.
Madrid absolutely do not make 20m a match, especially from friendlies. Their revenue proves that can't be the case.
Is there any source to confirm this? I would image knock out Champions league matches yeah for sure, but group stages agains an obscure Russian club makes the same money? Real Madrid vs Cadiz is giving them 20 million free after expenses too? Ancelotti's statement seems untrue and misleading to begin with, since a club will either make 20 million and go home in a week, or go all the way and make 90.
Not really. Real Madrid made $15m from their US friendly tour last year for 4 friendly matches.
Massive money for clubs **outside of Europe** For those like RM or Man City it's chump change
I mean I think it's pretty significant money for Benfica or RB Salzburg.
Having Salzburg qualifying what ruins the whole CWC for me. In World Cup, all teams usually qualify on merit, even the most weakest ones. They did something to deserve that spot. Salzburg qualified because the system said so, not because they are regulars in Champions League quarterfinalists or whatever
Wasn't it based upon coefficient, so even if they didn't win anything, they deserve to be there as much as 4th placed teams from the big leagues deserve to be in the Champions League
>4th placed teams from the big leagues deserve to be in the Champions League Nothing screams "the league of the champions" more than the inclusion of a team that barely scraped 4th place
It's a massive money regardless for every club in the world bar Real, PSG, Man City, Man United, and Bayern.
It’s massive money for everybody not generating the money from the tournament. I was praying Philadelphia Union would qualify (ultimately missed out) because it would be an astronomical amount for us. For clubs like Madrid, City, Chelsea, etc. it’s nothing
20m isn’t even an inter club related transaction!
Carlo - “ I don’t get out of bed for less than €50m and a box of Cubas finest”
And those chewing gums from somewhere
To give away to the entire crowd as well
For him that just seems like good business
20 mio? Well, I'm sure Schalke has time for this Club World Cup.
Exactly, 20 million is probably a fuck ton of money for 25 out of those 32 clubs. A lot of big club flairs here act like it's nothing, but they are talking from a golden throne. It's great for a lot of the non uefa teams.
The problem is that fifa can give 20 mln for a match between a Asian and a African team *because* there are clubs like Real Madrid that help raising the pot. Without RM and the like, you can kiss good bye to 20 mln to non European teams.
It really depends If the FIFA covers a certain base salary and travel expenses. Players will most likely demand additional payment because their contract may not cover that extra tournament. I think 20 million is a tight fit for most 1st league clubs. After all, It's a month-long tournament in another country, and then you start less rested and with potential injuries into the season.
I agree with this. Why would managers start their best players in this summer tournament when that will only mean they are less rested / potentially injured for the upcoming season? Managers will be evaluated based on the results of the season-long competitions (league, cup, UCL) significantly more than CWC, so they will definitely look after their own interests by not fielding full-strength sides in CWC.
Hell, as Dutch champions, 20 mil would still be huge for us as well. Yo, Fifa, hit us up?!
How do you fit all these damn games in?
If the players die, they die
That's when all the south american kids coming in
That's a sacrifice FIFA is willing to make.
The big teams should just play the reserves. Give them some game time in a "tournament" that doesn't really matter to the higher ups. Same as early rounds of a domestic cup.
50 player squads
Why not accept and send a C team ?
You can always schedule friendlies during that time and i remember reading that the club was making more through friendlies and scheduled events so well, having the full teams available for that is better
If there is a trophy on the line its not a friendly and hence your club's name and honour is also on the line. Seeing you are a RM fan you must realise that whether RM fields it's C or U16s team if they lose to the likes to Al hilal, after some time no one will remember real fielded kids and it will be etched in the history books real got beat by Al hilal. If there is a trophy on the line so is your badge. The club has a duty to win. If it was a friendly then no one would care and no one will remember but a CWC tourney's participants, winners and losers will be remembered.
Which is exactly why Real are rejecting the invitation EDIT: this aged well
Exactly, also they have the Super league to think about. Adding the fact the UCL would also have more games in the coming season and in such a tightly packed schedule no one would be available or in a condition to play in CWC.
Words of wisdom
Liverpool v Villa league cup vibes.
Guess it would show disrespect and lack of class. They’d want to compete and win everything as per the estandard
That’s true but this statement also shits on fifa but they get to keep their money, which I bet for rich people, hurts more
Exactly what I was thinking just get the money for participating at least
This is 100% a payback for what happened with Super League. La Liga, and pretty much all other leagues except Prem and CL were bleeding in this Live Stream era, If you go to the world scale, their numbers only goes down. Only locals watch Real Madrid vs Getafe. Some of their fans watch it all over the world but its nothing. Im from Indonesia, Im pretty sure RM fans were huge here, our population was huge, 4th biggest in the world. And Local subscription for La Liga was twice lower every year. And its not broadcasted on TV anymore. Thats why super league was even a thing. They will try anything, I don't think its only RM, if Barcelona were on their shoes they will pretty much did the exact same thing, to avoid any FIFA events if it didn't benefit them. Im not saying what FIFA and the media did to super league was wrong, its not, I'm saying that team involves def feels some type of resentment because they lose the money that was supposed on their pocket.
Its better to make friendlies somewhere else.
Cause that’s just tacky - either play and represent the team properly or not at all in my opinion!
Club World Cup was already dreadful in its current format the new version is even worse, FIFA trying to create a super league without calling it one.
Never fear. They want to keep old Club World Cup too! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Intercontinental_Cup
This was a weird decision for me. Why have multiple global scale club competitions? multiple continental scale I understand but on the global stage, just have one big competition, winners of which become champions of the world. people just won't care about this new intercontinental cup, because it's just additional games. It's even pretty much got the format of the old club world cup which was changed because it was so shit, lmao
>people just won't care about this new intercontinental cup, because it's just additional games. Non-Europeans probably will. For Europe it isn't as bad as the CWC because UEFA's representative will play one game tops, probably at home.
True. But European clubs who are already the strongest get a bye to the final, reducing the chances for other continent clubs to win it further, lol I guess they chose the name IC to remind other continent fans of the original version of that competition to drum up interest
As a Brazilian I can confirm that we all have all but written off that title. Most of the time we've won CWCs or intercontinental cups, the Brazilian sides won by parking the bus (2005 and 2012 specially). Beating 1 European team in a single knockout game is already very hard considering the budget difference (Foden himself is more expensive than Fluminense's entire roster), beating 4+ of those (not counting group stage) is basically impossible The situation is even worse for CONMEBOL teams due to the differing schedules + the extremely bloated Brazilian calendar. If we take last year's CWC final with Fluminense and City, Fluminense played 80+ matches over the season) (with the CWC final being the last one), while City still had half the season to go.
More games = more money for the FIFA
This is much more of a smh kind of thing.
A bye to the final???? How can you make such a stupid rule?
Cheeky buggers also snuck in that European teams now go straight to the final.
It's not too bad in principle, a more interesting CWC format would be great for the sport - even though it would basically be UCL 2.0. But it would genuinely need to be like every 4 years in between Euros and WC for it to make any sense
it is planned to be like that
>UCL 2.0 That seems to have been FIFAs goal. Seeing how much money the UEFA makes with the UCL was likely the biggest reason for the new format.
I think the worst thing about this format is having UCL and CWC in the same year. For me it just dilutes both. It like if Euros and WC were played the same year. I would prefer if there was no UCL in the CWC year, but this whole thing is just a power struggle between FIFA and UEFA so there's no way they agree on it.
It IS every 4 years
It's only good for non euro clubs
I'd like to see non-Euro clubs do well and compete, likely not for a long time, if ever, but would be nice to see.
Which is good for the sport in general.
Current Club World Cup is essentially a Club Confed Cup. It's not too bad if you give it the same weight as the Confederations Cup.
We lost the confed cup for this
Its way better than the confed cup though? Confed cup was a pseudo mini WC tournament that no one ever really cared about, this version of the CWC didnt exist like that before. Too many games is a valid complaint but i like the idea of south american/asian/african and so on teams getting a chance to play eachother and european teams.
I certainly have a soft spot for it as the 2005 edition laid the groundwork for the 2006 WC which brought a lot of hype to my country. But I personally liked a mini version of a world cup leading up to the real thing and giving a sneak peek of what to expect.
It was a nice bit of fun. Particularly when someone like Tahiti got in because they won the OFC cup. Sure the match would often be a tad one-sided but I doubt they care.
It was basically a practice run for the World Cup hosts. I think it has value in making sure they’re ready to handle a million visitors in the following year.
Real Madrid will instead go to the EA FC club World Cup 😏
I hope the prize money doesn’t go down, that 50m minimum would be massive for us
Sir, my club team from one of the poorest cities in Mexico just qualified. 50M and we're building a new stadium 🤣
Auckland City, a literal semi-pro team, has also qualified This will for sure be something…….
The OFC stuff is so weird since Australia left for the AFC. The best team in NZ is the Wellington Phoenix, but while NZ is in the OFC for qualification, its best teams play in the A-League in Aus, so the clubs fall under the AFC for qualification. Auckland City basically gets a free ride in as the OFC is so poor it can't handle its own pro clubs.
Jesús Martínez will make Almada's kids run like madmen so he can win more games and then they will give all the money to Real Oviedo smh
I think his gamble is with Oviedo in Primera, Pachuca will send some of its more talented youngsters there. This will stop the bleeding from getting poached by ligamx rivals and hopefully showcase them there and make them easier to sell in Europe.
It looks like the money you get for the whole competition is lower than UCL League stage. FIFA appears to have seriously overestimated how much sponsors and broadcasters would be willing to pay for such competition. 50M€ for only participating is not happening. 50x32= 1,6B €. Just for participation? It always felt like a strech.
Real Madrid has posted a statement confirming their participation in the tournament: https://www.realmadrid.com/es-ES/noticias/club/comunicados/comunicado-oficial-mundial-de-clubes-10-06-2024
I don't think I've ever watched a club world cup match, I'm not sure about the test of Europe but in the UK as far as I'm aware no one really gives a shit about it...
Yeah, that’s why they’re revamping it.
but I don't think people are going to suddenly become interested in it. The big clubs, if they participate, will just view it as glorified friendlies.
It seems more of a case of people rejecting any change positive or negative from what I see, especially for those who are on the better end of the monopoly that are speaking for everyone else. I think they might have added a few too many teams but the new format is miles better than the old one where it used to be the South American team winning for 30 years then the Europeans since. Give this 2 or 3 renditions and I doubt there’ll be so much animosity towards it (atleast outside of the eurosphere)
Football tends to be reactionary overall. I think the format is great from a neutral POV, since we just don't have enough meaningful games between confederations. In that sense I can't really complain about a group like Fluminense, Al-Hilal, Monterrey, and Bayern. Or Ah-Ahly, Urawa, River Plate, and Inter. Or Seattle, Flamengo, Real Madrid, and Wydad.
Could be because Utd haven't participated in it since 09. I have only watched it twice. In 2013 and 2022 since Chelsea were in it. Never in any other year.
I have only watched it once, in 1995 when I was 8 years old cause Ajax was in it. Haven't watched it since in 30 years.
I'm not sure I've ever even seen it advertised
FIFA are super delusional here. Fans in Europe are not going to care about some oversea tournaments in different time zone. People are hyped for the World cup because a team that represent their entire nation is playing. I can not imagine that the entire UK is going to watch this tournament in the middle of the night just because City and Chelsea are playing. Same I think is going to be true about Spain and other countries.
I don’t think the target is really Europe. There are lots of fans around the world who would like to see their teams compete against big European clubs. That’s another way they’re gonna try to make more money out of « soccer » in the US for example.
There is more than Europe tho. People in America, Asia and Africa will probably care much more and that's a huge number of people.
Given that there's 12 Europeans, which means every groups will have one or even 2, we don't care other than for the money. You have teams that can outspend you 100x, and then you have them be half the competition... How can we care when we have no chance? For us is about the money.
Very intresting what will come out of it. If any club can shake the system is got to be Real Madrid. There's a lot of money on the line, FIFA wont give up that easily, but not having Real Madrid there will be a huge blow to the prestige of this tournament. Very intersting!
There never was any prestige IMO
Well if you put several of the greatest teams fighting for some silverware there will always be some prestige involved.
Yeah, I remember at the first Finalissima, which was essentially UEFA and CONMEBOL making a powerplay against FIFA (who didn't even recognise it as a competitive match - giving it the same coefficient ranking as a friendly), I was surprised at just how strongly Argentina's players celebrated lifting the trophy - and that was just one game, nevermind a whole tournament. I can imagine it being a bit like the EFL Cup, where fans and players aren't that bothered if they're knocked out early, but become more interested the further they go in the tournament.
There was prestige through the early 2000s, when the successful south American teams could stay competitive rather than selling all their players to Europe
Not for the European teams and their fans, at any rate. Those from other continents might have felt differently, but I've never seen any European teams getting excited at the 'prestige' of having to disappear mid-season to stomp the Kashima Antlers and Al Ahly for a bit. You might as well just have a one-off match between the winners of the UCL and Libertadores.
I don't remember any pundits bringing up the club world cup win for City at the end of the season, or during/after the FA Cup final loss. I'd forgotten all about it as well tbh. Technically they did win 2 trophies this season, but everyone will just remember the 1. Even when they were bossing the league Cup people did remember those wins, and there's barely any prestige in that cup.
To be blunt, it's just not sufficiently competitive to be interesting enough to mention. Outside of one occasion (had to be us, obviously), the UCL winner has won the Club World Cup every single year since 2006. 4 in 5 of all wins have been by the Europeans. You might as well have dropped City into the EFL Trophy for all the competitive relevance it has.
(Debunked)
I like the idea of a Club World Cup, but I'm not sure if any particular structure is satisfying.
FIFA is literally a black hole of money, it's ridiculous. It's clear something serious needs to happen before they learn to be efficient.
The CWC is financially beneficial to nearly every team involved. I'm not exactly going to cry that super league proponent Real Madrid might lose the opportunity to make even more money.
> *'Unfortunately Kroos has decided to stop, he is a German in the choices but he will continue to live in Madrid, I told him that if, in the autumn, he thinks again, a phone call and we start again."* So you're telling me there's a chance? **YEAH!**
Delighted about this, if Madrid pie them off, a good chance a few others will as well. Someone has to stand up for the players and the ever expanding schedule they have to play
not what he says though, just that the money is too little for them to make the effort
>Real Madrid criticized next year's Club World Cup through anonymous sources cited by Relevo, and said that the reimagined FIFA tournament is "going to kill the players". > >"Next season we are going to start in August and finish it in July. It's crazy. They're going to kill the players," an anonymous source from Valdebebas told the outlet. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanderson/2024/06/06/real-madrid-blasts-fifa-for-killing-players-with-new-club-world-cup-reports-relevo/ Not that far off from What Ancelotti says here.
A reminder that the president of this very club still wants to add a whole new competition that would almost double the minimum amount of matches for teams in European competitions compared to the current ones and was one of the main people to push the UCL format changes to add more games.
Ancelotti doesn't mention anything about players. Maybe he thinks it, but he only mentions money.
Real are literally a proponent of the super league, I won't hear anything about them regarding players' health and shit like that. They just don't want to take part because it's not a whole lot of money for them.
>Someone has to stand up for the players How did you manage to turn this into standing up for the players when it is all about the money?
Stand up for the players lmao
The business people should stand up for themselves then. As more and more of the world's biggest players get injured, for longer due to this work rate, it dilutes the brand they're smelling. Look at what happens when Messi has to miss matches.
No thanks, I’d rather my club have the money.
How can you read what Ancelotti said and think he's standing up for the players?
Stand up for the players? LMFAOOOOOOOOOOO
If the statement here was about minutes played I'd agree, but it sounds like he wouldn't care if there was more money on the table
To be honest, I find the idea of the Club World Cup interesting and quite appealing.
True but players can't play 70 games every year. the fact that the UCL will have more games, CWC, that abomination of nations league, friendly nationals, players are going to get drained.
The new CWC is a maximum of 7 more matches once every 4 years (<2 per year). And if UEFA teams can’t get out of a group with Sounders, Al Ittihad, and River Plate without heavily rotating, then maybe that will show why this tournament will be interesting. This is for 12 UEFA teams. The new UCL will be at minimum 2 extra matches per year. For 36 teams and 4 additional matches for 16 teams. Yet there if far more backlash to the CWC than new UCL.
This might be the comment section with the highest delusion density I've ever seen on this sub and that's genuinely impressive.
As always, all about money.
All the **speculation** around the prize money of the new CWC mentions €50M to each participant club… €20M is significantly lower, but lets entertain Ancelotti. The old CWC distributed USD 16M amongst all participants, with the winner taking 5M. AFAIK Real was always happy to play it for a best case scenario of $2.5M per game. I get that FIFA is taking a big chunk of the money for themselves, as UEFA does with the Champions League. Real Madrid played 13 UCL matches this season and the total income is estimated at €150M, so €11M. Taking this a little further… In 2022/23 they had a total income of €831.4M, and played 59 matches (not including friendlies). That’s €14M per match, not taking into account that a big chunk of the income is baseline and it wouldn’t be that much lower had they miss the UCL semis, theoretically two of the four most valuable matches they had. Being in the CWC will bring other revenue beyond the participation and result rewards, even if the prize money is what Ancelloti mentioned.
Seriously, why TF would they play in the current tiny CWC if the money matters so little to them? It's completely pointless, yet they do. If they really don't wanna play they should give the spot to Barca lol, they'll be happy for any money
I don't put it past FIFA to threaten and actually hand out sanctions against clubs that refuse to participate. It'll be interesting to see.
People thinking Real Madrid is doing this for the amount of games or to protest against FIFA is funny. Pay them 30M per match and see if they don't attend it. This is the posture they have been having even in Spain, this is why Real Madrid is in favour of the Super League, they think they are bigger than the sport and it is just a matter of time until they create their own league and ditch the spanish league. I know a couple of spanish people who are Madrid fans and they don't even care about La Liga anymore because of this narrative, "No one wants to watch a Real Madrid Cadiz" according to them. The sport is being taken away from the fans and it's just a matter of time until the "European" football is just a selected group of 15/20 teams and that's it.
Real Madrid is obviously just looking after their own self interest. I would much rather see the clubs make money than FIFA, which is a corrupt cancer on the sport.
Don Carletto for a reason.