Who should pay for it?

Club World Cup with Salzburg: now there’s an “emergency meeting”

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Salzburg's Lucas Gourna-Douath (from left to right)(Bild: GEPA)

Gianni Infantino never misses an opportunity to praise his new billion-euro project to the skies. The reformed Club World Cup with Red Bull Salzburg will herald a "new era for club soccer around the world", the FIFA President recently announced. However, a good eight months before the kick-off in the USA, crucial questions remain unanswered, including who will pay for it all.

Media companies and TV broadcasters recently received an invitation from Infantino himself to an "exclusive, private briefing", as the invitation email for the video meeting put it. "Emergency meeting" mocked the New York Times. The fact that the FIFA boss is boosting rights sales is "extremely unusual", to say the least, according to an experienced rights trader who took part in the so-called "broadcaster briefing" a few weeks ago. Infantino had invited Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the influential chairman of the European Club Association (ECA) and Paris Saint-Germain.

Clubs can look forward to 50 million US dollars
The participants in the tournament, which runs from June 15 to July 13, think the competition is great, as it promises additional income. According to the portal "The Athletic", Europe's top clubs are expecting more than 50 million US dollars each.

FIFA, which does not yet want to provide any information on the bonuses, would need correspondingly high revenues for this. These are to come primarily from TV rights. According to the New York Times, the world governing body had already negotiated a global streaming contract with Apple to broadcast the tournament. However, this contract, valued at around one billion dollars, was not concluded. As a result, FIFA put the media rights for the 2025 tournament in the USA and the 2029 Club World Cup, each with 32 teams and 63 matches, out to tender individually just a few weeks ago.

Gold Cup or Club World Cup?
The tournament not only overlaps with the European Women's Championship (July 2 to 27), but also with the Gold Cup. The continental championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean (June 14 to July 6) in the United States and Canada is a major TV rivalry in the participating countries and also brings with it another problem. Gold Cup or Club World Cup - this question will be asked of those players who have qualified with their national team and their club.

Infantino's eloquently promoted event is controversial anyway, because the expansion of the tournament means more matches on the program and the top stars of the industry are threatened with a summer without a real break. FIFA argues against this, citing statistics that the strain on individual players will not increase.

The European Leagues Association and the players' union Fifpro want to lodge a complaint with the EU Commission against the world governing body FIFA, primarily because of the enlarged Club World Cup. The scheduling and enlargement of the Club World Cup shows "that the mental and physical health of the participating players is not being taken into account", wrote Fifpro. However, experience has shown that it is likely to take a long time for the EU Commission to clarify the matter.

Contracts expire during the tournament
The Club World Cup also presents FIFA with a legal problem of a completely different kind. Around the middle of the tournament, there could be professionals whose contracts with the participating clubs expire. Or other players who are under contract with one of the clubs from July 1.

New transfer window 
One crucial rule: a player can only play for one club during the Club World Cup. Between June 1 and 10, a transfer window will also be set up in which signed players can be registered with their new club earlier than usual. This is only at the discretion of the respective member associations. In any case, FIFA called on the participating clubs and players to find appropriate solutions for expiring contracts in order to facilitate the participation of the professionals.