The debate that roiled soccer fans for generations was also its most unanswerable: Which clubs, on which continents, played the best soccer?
Unlike national teams that played one another in the quadrennial World Cup, there was rarely overlap between the top teams in Europe and South America, or North America, except for summertime “friendly” competitions.
The FIFA Club World Cup, which begins this weekend across the U.S. and runs through the final on July 13, expanded its previously smaller format in an attempt to provide an answer. It now features 32 teams, from six continents, playing for a total prize money pool of $1 billion.
“This is for bragging rights,” said Jill Ellis, the chief football officer of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, and a former World Cup-winning coach of the U.S. women’s national team. “Prize money is a part of it. But most importantly, this is a chance to be the first-ever club world champion.”
As the tournament opens, however, the money is more than just a small part of it. Falling ticket prices, and accusations from Major League Soccer players that the league had agreed to participate in a “cash grab” that unfairly compensates them, have raised the question of just how much buy-in the new tournament has from U.S. audiences and players.
When tickets for Saturday’s opening game in Florida between Inter Miami, featuring Lionel Messi, and Egyptian side Al Ahly went on sale in December through Ticketmaster, an upper-deck ticket cost $379 at the time. This week, similar ticket were on sale for as low as $116. According to NPR, FIFA has worked with a local Florida college to offer four complimentary tickets for students who pay for a single $20 ticket. Attendance for the opening game was announceed at 60,927, slightly shy of the stadium’s capacity of 65,000.
Bayern Munich, the perennial German champion, listed lower-bowl tickets for its opener Sunday in Cincinnati for as low as $107 when its tickets went on sale in December; on Saturday, tickets were being resold on Stubhub for half that.
For as little as $8, fans can watch a June 25 game between the Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds and Mexican side C.F. Monterrey.
“We anticipace great attendances and electric atmospheres at its inaugural edition, with excitement growing with every round of matches and the tournament ultimately standing as the undisputed pinnacle of club world football,” FIFA said, in part of a statement sent to NBC News. “The appetite speaks for itself: fans from over 130 countries have already purchased tickets. The top 10 markets are led by the United States, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal — a clear sign of global anticipation and reach.”
As a new tournament, the Club World Cup cannot offer much in the way of prestige or history. Instead, it has offered a historic amount of prize money, with $525 million of the total $1 billion distributed to teams on a sliding scale, guaranteed, just for making the 32-team field. At the top, brand-name European teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain will earn between $12.8 and $38 million; at the bottom, New Zealand’s Auckland City FC will earn $3.5 million.
The remaining $475 million of the billion-dollar pool will then be determined by teams’ performances; making the round of 16 earns each club $7.5 million, with quarterfinalists $13.1 million, and increasing up to the final. The winner can ultimately rake in up to $125 million, all of which adds up to much more than bragging rights — which has left Major League Soccer players asking why their cut from the windfall isn’t greater.
Before a June 1 match players from the Seattle Sounders donned white T-shirts during warmups that read “Club World Ca$h Grab,” with an image of the Mr. Monopoly character wearing an “MLS” top hat and holding a pouch reading “FIFA.” The protest led the team’s owner to berate players afterward, according to the Seattle Times.
The three teams in the Club World Cup field from Major League Soccer — Seattle, Inter Miami and Los Angeles Football Club — are each guaranteed $9.55 million for participating, before any bonuses are earned for performance. Players’ earnings from participation or performance in a “compulsory tournament or noncompulsory tournament” is capped at $1 million, per the terms of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
The players’ union has continued to push publicly to increase’ players stake from what is currently about a 90/10 split, and has noted that before a major tournament in 2024, the players and MLS renegotiated the prize money distribution before ultimately landing at a 50-50 split.
In a statement to NBC News on Thursday, MLS said that it has “agreed to voluntarily provide additional performance-based compensation to players from the three participating clubs.” That proposal, the league said, would allocate 20% of all prize money earned from the group stage onward to players.
“If an MLS club wins the Club World Cup, its players would collectively receive more than $24 million in performance bonuses,” the statement read. “MLS club owners believe performance-based incentives are appropriate given the expanded format and increased prize pool for the Club World Cup. The League values the continued dedication and commitment of its players and looks forward to supporting them as they represent their clubs — and Major League Soccer — on the global stage this summer.”
On June 8, the players association posted on X that it was “deeply disappointed” by the league’s proposal.
“The timing, substance and retaliatory nature of the proposal sends a clear message: MLS does not respect or value players’ efforts with regard to this tournament,” the post read. “Although not surprised, the players and the MLSPA are deeply disappointed by this message.”
“I don’t think sitting out is an option,” Seattle midfielder Albert Rusnak told reporters Friday. “Just because again, that inside what we have as athletes and winners and want to go out there and win and prove the people wrong whether we’re talking about the bonuses or the people not believing we can do anything.”
Ellis, who works for FIFA, believes the prospect of playing on that global stage will lead to strong competition from players.
“I think the U.S. players, if you were to say to anyone, ‘Do you want to play in this tournament?’ Sure, do they want to be paid as much as probably — I mean, that’s within their own league and within the MLS to determine that, because obviously, unlike a lot of leagues around the world, MLS has a salary cap,” Ellis said. “So there’s certain different structures and CBA, and so that’s internal to that.
“But I think in terms of what I and my experience in working with some of the best players in the world, elite players want to play against elite players. They want to test themselves, prove themselves, and they want to compete. … Listen, at the end of the day it’s a choice, but I think players will want to play in this event.
“… In American sports when we win, when the Major League Baseball team wins, they’re world champions. When the NFL team (wins) — the title is world champions. Well, yes, but they’re playing against American teams. This is truly a world championship. This is the best clubs in the world.”
