“Not a crowd-puller”: Is the FIFA Club World Cup lacking prestige and interest?
- Mayank Srivastava
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The newly formatted FIFA Club World Cup began on Saturday, where Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami shared points with Al-Ahly in a goalless draw in the opening game of the tournament at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The fans turned out in decent numbers, 60,927 to be precise, to witness the inauguration of the new Club World Cup and also to observe the spectacle known as “Lionel Messi” take centre stage in the contest between the top clubs around the world.
While the numbers do seem impressive, the stadium was not entirely jam-packed as expected, with more than 4,000 seats going vacant. Some of the later games witnessed even less participation, indicating the lack of interest generated by the tournament.
Empty stadiums, vacant seats and low participation: The challenges faced by the Club World Cup
Yesterday’s contest between English giants Chelsea and the local club Los Angeles FC saw an attendance of just 22,137 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which has a capacity of seating 71,000 viewers at once.
The lack of fans and empty seats even surprised Enzo Maresca, who labelled this low participation as “strange” as his team put up a solid performance in front of almost 53,000 empty seats.
Boca Juniors vs Benfica, which turned out to be an absolute thriller, saw close to 9,000 vacant seats. Botafogo and Seattle Sounders' clash on Sunday also witnessed a half-filled stadium, majorly attended by the local fans.
The low participation and attendance comes as an even bigger surprise when we take a look at the reduced ticket costs, with prices going as low as $4. The lack of interest despite the low ticket prices is suggesting that the tournament has failed to generate excitement and interest amongst fans, posing a massive concern for FIFA.
Why is the FIFA Club World Cup failing to generate large-scale interest?
Despite FIFA’s attempts to promote the efforts and attempts to pull the crowd and generate excitement about the CWC, which included multiple promotional campaigns and a significant decrease in the ticket prices, the fans have showcased a lack of interest in the tournament, and there seemed to be many justified reasons for it.
One of the biggest reasons for the tournament’s low engagement is the concern and disappointment showcased by the player and the clubs, with some of them even coming out publicly and stating the tournament's adverse impact on their physical and mental health.
Some of the big names had even refused to travel with their respective clubs as a protest against FIFA’s lack of concern for the players and the clubs.
Concerns have even been raised by fans and experts about the purpose of the tournament, with many labelling it as a “cash grab” and therefore believing that it lacks the prestige of the UEFA Champions League, which is still considered to be the biggest club competition in the world.
On top of that, questions have also been raised over "the best vs the best” intention of the tournament when there is a clear difference in the quality and strength of the participating European clubs and other participating clubs in the tournament.
Several other reasons, including broadcasting and sponsorship issues and the non-involvement of some of the biggest clubs like FC Barcelona, Liverpool, AC Milan, etc., have also contributed to the reduced fan participation, even raising concerns regarding the future and the outlook of the tournament.
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