It began with a music video, entitled Fiesta de Campeones (the Champions Party), with lyrics that told us, “Football unites the world” and, “It’s a FIFA party, we know how to celebrate.”
In a Telemundo studio in Miami, things started weird and rarely became any less surreal over almost two hours as FIFA oversaw the draw for its revamped Club World Cup competition, which will begin in the United States on June 15, 2025, and feature 32 club teams from all corners of the planet.
The opening salvo was produced by multiple Emmy and Grammy winner Emilio Estefan. “We live in a time where we need to reunite the world,” Estefan said, addressing a room largely comprised of male football executives, before adding: “We live in America, the best country in the world.” The room clapped.
Our spokesmen for the quest to reunite the world? First FIFA president Gianni Infantino and then a guest video he explained had arrived from a “very, very special friend and a big, big fan who would have loved to be with us today, but will be with us very soon”.
That, of course, would be the incoming U.S. president, Donald Trump.
President Trump appeared via guest video (Giorgio Viera / AFP via Getty Images)
Infantino told us that football has united the world through the men’s World Cup since 1930 and the women’s World Cup since 1991, but there has, he claimed, been “something missing”, namely a competition to determine the best club team in the world. There is, we should say, still no sign of a specific date or location for a women’s Club World Cup, only that FIFA said in May that it wants it to take place in 2026.
Back to the men. Infantino said “two, three, four million fans” will be coming to the U.S. for the tournament next summer and then he claimed four or five billion people will watch on TV. This would mean over half the world’s population tuning into a tournament whose group-stage draw threw up some enticing ties (River Plate vs Inter Milan and Manchester City vs Juventus) but also games unlikely to capture the global imagination (think Auckland City vs Benfica, or Wydad vs Al Ain).
He did not explain how those numbers were estimated on Thursday and getting answers from Infantino is rarely possible. He also avoided the red carpet on this occasion — actually a green carpet, made of artificial turf, because football — so there was no opportunity to quiz FIFA’s president on any aspect of this competition, most notably the concerns raised by players over their mounting workload and the legal challenges from player unions faced over the scheduling of the tournament.
Or whether it was really fair that Inter Miami, as the winners of the MLS Supporters’ Shield for the best regular-season record, were gifted the host place in the competition, rather than the winners of the MLS Cup. It appeared to many to be a way to shoehorn Lionel Messi into the tournament. No FIFA employees were made available for on-the-record questioning, in the same week that the organisation has attracted scrutiny over its evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid for 2034, which will be coronated next week.
Infantino did, however, have plenty to say on stage. This is a tournament he appears to have made a personal mission but it has not always felt like it would actually happen. FIFA only named venues to host the tournament in the U.S. at the end of September and a broadcaster, DAZN, was only announced for the global media rights on Wednesday, the day before the draw. That $1billion (£800m) deal, making all matches free-to-air globally, put a spring in Infantino’s step.
We learned that we had Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and seemingly a buddy of Infantino, to thank for the gold-plated trophy for the tournament, which also has Infantino’s name engraved in two places on the ornament. Infantino explained that Kushner had suggested turning to Tiffany & Co for the design.
The iconic Brazilian forward Ronaldo joined Infantino to unveil the trophy. But Infantino was not finished there, because he then produced a golden key, a “FIFA key”, that he said “opens the door to the hearts of the people”. The key, it turned out, opens up the trophy.
Does Infantino hold the key to making the Club World Cup a success? (Giorgio Viera / AFP via Getty Images)
Trump and Infantino developed a bond during the U.S. joint bid with Mexico and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup, where Trump, during his first presidency, invited the FIFA president several times into his White House and provided a string of written commitments that helped swing the bid America’s way.
Kushner became the point of reference at the White House for the bid team and The Athletic recently revealed how a lunch organised by Kushner for Infantino and New York City politicians and business executives this year helped secure the World Cup final for MetLife stadium. That relationship appeared warmer than ever as Kushner’s wife — Trump’s daughter Ivanka — and their son Theodore, made the ceremonial first pick of the draw. Yes, you did read that correctly.
Earlier, Trump’s video message reserved great praise for Infantino. The FIFA president previously introduced Trump as a speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020. In the same week as the U.S. Senate introduced ground rules for Trump’s impeachment trial, Infantino compared Trump to a sportsman, saying he is a “competitor” who “says actually what many think, but more importantly he does, then, what he says”.
Perhaps Trump was rewarding that loyalty in this video. “He’s a winner,” Trump said of Infantino yesterday. “He’s the president and I’m the president. We’ve known each other a long time and I’m so honoured to have this kind of a relationship because soccer is going through the roof. My son Barron is a tremendous soccer fan. He’s actually a good player. I guess not that kind of good, but he’s a very good player.
“We’re going to be watching the World Cup also very soon and I was very responsible, along with Gianni, in getting it. It is going to be a fantastic thing.”
While Infantino dodged media scrutiny, it was left to club officials to provide the sound bites. The Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas said “there is no controversy” over the award of a place to Inter Miami. The MLS commissioner Don Garber was more diplomatic, stressing it was FIFA’s decision. He did, however, say, “It was smart.” Garber added: “I am supportive of the decision that FIFA made, and I’m excited to put Miami and Seattle (Sounders) and for a global media deal to allow it to be shown around the world.”
Garber went on to describe Messi’s impact as the equivalent of “Taylor Swift meeting Michael Jackson meeting Pele”. Mas said it would be an “honour” for the president of the United States to be at the opening game of the tournament, which will feature his side.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is one of two MLS representatives (Chris Arjoon / AFP via Getty Images)
As for the DAZN deal, the purported $1billion will be mostly shared among the clubs, along with sponsorship money. Only Hisense, AB InBev and Bank of America are on board for sponsorship, which leaves FIFA with work to do, particularly because Infantino was earlier aiming for up to $4bn in media rights, while The Athletic has reported that FIFA was hoping to sign up 10 sponsors, with targets of more than $100million per sponsor, and has been struggling to attract these numbers.
Many expect at least one major Saudi sponsor to come on board, while FIFA will hope the exposure of free-to-air broadcasting via DAZN raises sponsorship numbers.
This is still a tournament missing Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Milan, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr did not qualify. There has been some speculation that the Saudi representatives Al Hilal may seek a special transfer window to move players within their league to further strengthen their chances in the tournament.
“This is not the time to talk about players,” answered Esteve Calzada, the Al Hilal chief executive.
Is there a world where we could see Ronaldo move to Al Hilal for one more tournament on the global stage, competing against Messi? “It sounds like a science fiction,” Calzada said. “Cristiano Ronaldo is not our player, so it’s difficult to comment on that.”
It is not only the Saudis who may seek reinforcements, as Mas said Miami are hoping MLS will further relax financial restrictions on their teams.
The Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who also doubles up as the chair of the European Club Association (ECA), which represents the interests of Europe’s leading sides, was enthusiastic about the tournament’s prospects. “They signed yesterday an amazing TV deal. That’s fantastic for the clubs, for the competition.”
GO DEEPER
FIFA agrees Club World Cup broadcast deal with DAZN
He described the tournament as a crucial chance to grow PSG’s brand in the U.S., saying it was the first time competitive European matches could be played on American soil.
As for the workload on players, Al-Khelaifi stressed the need for coaches to rotate their players, while he also implied that other nations might look at France and Germany, where the top flight has 18 teams rather than 20, and only have one domestic cup competition. He said that while the Club World Cup represents an expansion of the calendar, it “generates” both on commercial and sporting terms.
For FIFA, therefore, a day of rare harmony. The challenge now, however, is how that revenue should be distributed within the clubs. “It will be a mosh pit,” said one leading executive present, speaking anonymously to protect relationships. The ECA will be pushing for European sides, including Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City, Inter Milan and Juventus, to be awarded the greatest slice of the pie as they will claim to be the value drivers of the tournament that sell tickets and attract eyeballs. FIFA’s challenge is to work out how much should be guaranteed for participation and how much should be incentivised by success during the tournament.
It is not only Europe driving value, however, with Inter Miami’s Mas stressing the revenue his team will bring. “It’s a FIFA tournament. They’ll determine it. What I can say is that Inter Miami will fill our stadiums. I can guarantee you that Leo Messi and Inter Miami, we will bring it.”
One European club executive said to expect “equitable rather than equal” when it comes to sharing the cash between the continents.
In such circumstances, we must call upon a man who believes he can unite the world. Step forward, president Infantino.
(Top photo: Brennan Asplen / Getty Images)
