The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is finally here—with all the drama, scale, and spectacle that one might expect from football’s global governing body. It’s happening across the United States, featuring 32 champion clubs from every continent, held over 29 days in some of America’s biggest sporting cities—from Los Angeles and Miami to New York and Seattle.
It’s bigger than anything the Club World Cup has seen before. More teams. More money. More logistics. But there’s a question that keeps resurfacing after the first couple of matchdays: Is anyone truly invested?
This isn’t about player fitness or match quality. It’s about cultural impact. In spite of FIFA’s ambitious expansion, does the Club World Cup still feel like a tournament that matters?
From Vision to Reality
The expansion of the Club World Cup to a 32-team format has been in FIFA’s pipeline since 2018. The goal was clear: elevate the tournament into a globally revered competition, something that could rival the UEFA Champions League and even act as a bridge to the 2026 Men’s World Cup, also being hosted in North America.
With top sides like Manchester City, Real Madrid, Palmeiras, Al Ahly, Al Hilal, and Club León in the mix, the sporting quality is unquestionable. But as early as the group stage, the disconnect between FIFA’s grand narrative and actual fan engagement is noticeable.
According to Nielsen Sports, group-stage viewership across key markets such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, and the UK has been 35 to 50 percent lower than UEFA Champions League equivalents aired in the same time slots. Matches not featuring European giants are averaging under 1.5 million live global viewers, while marquee games like Manchester City vs. Urawa Red Diamonds are estimated to peak at 10 to 12 million—far below expectations for a so-called “World Cup of clubs.”
Stadiums with Sound—but Not Always Soul
While stadium attendance for high-profile games has been respectable—averaging between 68 and 75 percent capacity according to the US Soccer Federation—matches between lesser-known clubs (like Auckland City or Wydad Casablanca) have struggled to attract crowds beyond local curiosity. Cities like Atlanta and Houston are delivering crowds for matches featuring Latin American sides, but outside the power zones, local engagement is modest at best.
And despite FIFA’s best efforts, the tournament hasn’t captured the broader imagination of the American sports market. Coverage has been minimal on ESPN, with mainstream sports pages more focused on NBA drafts and NFL preseason stories.
Ballon d’Or Bias and the Prestige Problem
One of FIFA’s ambitions was to make the Club World Cup a stage where individual legacies are shaped—but in 2025, this idea hasn’t landed.
As of June 2025, nine out of the top ten Ballon d’Or contenders are being judged almost exclusively on their performances in the Champions League, Euro 2024, or Copa América. Even standout players from clubs like Fluminense or Mamelodi Sundowns, despite performing well here, aren’t in serious contention for global awards.
This reveals a deeper challenge: players, agents, and media still don’t see the Club World Cup as a career-defining platform. Without that cultural weight, its influence remains limited.
The Missing Half: Where Is the Women’s Club World Cup?
Perhaps the most telling absence in this expanded era of global football is the lack of a Women’s Club World Cup.
Women’s football is thriving. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup drew more than 2 billion viewers globally, with sold-out matches in Australia and New Zealand. Clubs like Barcelona Femení, Chelsea Women, and Lyon have created world-class squads with strong followings and commercial success.
Yet, despite multiple announcements from FIFA since 2019, there is still no concrete roadmap for a global women’s club competition.
Given the rise in viewership, merchandise sales, and player profiles, this is a missed opportunity—not just for equity, but for innovation. A Women’s Club World Cup has the potential to outgrow the men’s version in emotional resonance and fan loyalty if launched thoughtfully.
Commercial Value: Growing, but Still Bundled
Commercially, the 2025 tournament is expected to generate 180–200 million USD in sponsorship revenue, largely thanks to long-standing FIFA partners like Coca-Cola, Adidas, and Visa. But it’s worth noting that most of these brands are activating across FIFA’s ecosystem—this isn’t a standalone media property yet, like the Champions League or the Premier League.
Kantar’s sports sponsorship index for Q2 2025 shows that brand recall for Club World Cup sponsors is hovering around 28 percent, compared to 62 percent for UEFA Champions League brands.
In simpler terms: fans aren’t yet connecting brand storytelling with the tournament experience.
And What About 2026?
FIFA is using the Club World Cup 2025 to test stadium operations, broadcasting models, and crowd management ahead of the 2026 Men’s World Cup, which will span across the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
This trial run makes sense logistically. But FIFA risks diluting the momentum of its own flagship event. Without strong storylines and emotional moments to carry forward, the Club World Cup may not act as the marketing warm-up FIFA hoped for—but as a noisy distraction that doesn’t stick.
What Can We Learn?
Beyond football, the Club World Cup 2025 offers management lessons that apply across industries.
1. Scale doesn’t equal significance.
Just because something is bigger doesn’t make it better. Emotional connection, narrative tension, and cultural timing matter more than expansion.
2. Launch timing must respect calendar psychology.
Releasing a new product in a saturated landscape—like FIFA did mid-summer with Euro 2024 and Copa América still active—means fighting for attention. Most brands and fans only have space for one “main thing” at a time.
3. Inclusion isn’t an add-on—it’s the next frontier.
By sidelining the women’s club ecosystem, FIFA is missing a massive growth opportunity. Innovation doesn’t always mean going bigger; sometimes, it means going fairer and deeper.
Final Whistle
The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is visually spectacular and operationally impressive. But tournaments are not judged on logistics—they’re judged on how they make us feel. And so far, the feeling is… uncertain.
If FIFA truly wants to create a club competition that matters globally, it needs to shift focus from expansion to experience. That means investing in stories, raising stakes, and finally launching a parallel women’s tournament worthy of the players and fans who have already arrived.
Football doesn’t just belong to the future. It belongs to those who make it meaningful in the present.
The Momma Clan 
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