2025 US FIFA Club World Cup talk (1): There must be a brave man under heavy rewards

FIFA's newly reorganized Club World Cup will be held in the United States from June 15 to July 12. 32 teams organized by the six major football associations in the world will compete for the championship award.

From the game format, like the previous World Cup in FIFA, the 32 club teams are divided into 8 groups, with 4 teams in each group, and the group single round-robin match will be adopted. The teams with the top 2 teams in the group points will advance to the top 16. Moreover, the knockout match style also follows the rules of the FIFA World Cup. Eight teams A1, C1, E1, G1 and B2, D2, F2, and H2 will enter the first half, while the remaining eight teams will enter the second half. The final winners of each and a half districts enter the finals of this Club World Cup.

The current team distribution of the eight groups is as follows:

Group A: Palmeiras (Brazil), Porto (Portugal), Jeddah Nationals (Egypt), Miami International (United States)

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain (France), Atletico Madrid (Spain), Botafogo (Brazil), Seattle Gulf Man (United States)

Group C: Bayern Munich (Germany), Auckland City (New Zealand), Boca Youth (Argentina), Benfica (Portugal)

Group D: Flamengo (Brazil), Tunisia Hope (Tunisia), Chelsea (UK), Los Angeles (United States)

Group E: Riverbed (Argentina), Urawa Red Diamond (Japan), Monterey (Mexico), Inter Milan (Italy)

Group F: Fluminense (Brazil), Dortmund (Germany), Ulsan (South Africa)

Group G: Manchester City (UK), Casablanca Vidade (Morocco), Ain (UAE), Juventus (Italy)

Group H: Real Madrid (Spain), Riyadh Crescent (Saudi), Pachuca (Mexico), Salzburg Red Bull (Austria)

How enthusiastic will the newly reorganized Club World Cup attract big-name teams? According to normal circumstances, this period is when European clubs' summer transfer window has been opened, various business competitions around the world are in progress, and most players are on vacation. However, in order to expand its influence and appeal, FIFA has formulated a huge reward plan for this competition. In the face of huge financial stimulus, there are always teams who will work hard.

FIFA's rewards are extremely valuable, and you will automatically receive a bonus as long as you participate. In addition to European clubs, each team in South America can receive a $15.21 million participation award, each team in Central and North America, Asian and African clubs can receive a $9.55 million participation award, and the Oceania team can also receive a $3.58 million participation award. European teams are allocated from US$12.81 million to US$38.19 million based on the club's own commercial value. In other words, teams of Real Madrid and Manchester City can buy a very good player in the market as long as they bring the team to the United States to participate in the competition.

Three group matches, each team won a prize of US$2 million and a prize of US$1 million. If you enter the knockout round, the bonus ratio will be higher. The prize for the top 16 is US$7.5 million, and the prize for the top 8 is US$13.12 million, while the prize for the top 4 has increased to US$21 million. The team that reached the finals will receive another US$30 million. If the team finally wins the championship, it will be rewarded with another US$40 million. This means that if a team wins the championship, it will receive a reward of up to US$125 million.

This reward is too generous. For Moroccan team Mamelodi Sunset, their club's annual income is US$38 million, and this income scale is already a large club in Africa, with a strong financial resources. But compared with the German team Dortmund in the same group, the opponent's annual income is 13 times that of it. However, this kind of competition system is often like the World Cup and is often unpopular. As the saying goes, those who are barefoot are not afraid of wearing shoes. Whether it is the level of investment in the competition or the desire for generous bonuses, this kind of small club that is unknown in the world is eager to make a chance to make a comeback. They hope to let more fans pay attention to them through this world-style super-large stage. In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, African team Morocco eliminated Portugal in the quarterfinals and entered the semi-finals. The shocking upset created is the biggest footnote to this state.

In this event, FIFA invested a total of US$1 billion. The core reason why this massive project is highly expected by FIFA President Infantino is that in his campaign plan, he hopes to bring FIFA US$13 billion in revenue from 2023 to 2026. The founding of this kind of club World Cup can give players from up to 90 countries in the world the opportunity to come to this football stage. In order to make this event more dynamic, FIFA will also invest US$250 million in teams that have not participated in the competition. The theme is the World Football Solidarity Investment Plan.

There must be brave men under the heavy prize, and the big cake released by FIFA is indeed tempting. At 8:00 am on June 15, the opening match of this Club World Cup will be between Jeddah Nationals and Miami International. Next, I will share more exciting content about the Club World Cup. If you don’t want to miss it, you can like and follow it.