Club World Cup Controversy

Reading the attendance data after all the matches of the first round of the group stage, it can be concluded that football fans are almost indifferent to this tournament. There were more than 400,000 empty seats out of 979,373 available in the nine stadiums where the matches took place.

The lowest attendance was recorded when the South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns, faced the South Korean team, Ulsan HD, with only 3,412 spectators, representing 13 percent of the stadium's capacity. Meanwhile, when one of the European giants, Chelsea, played against Los Angeles FC, there were only 22,137 spectators, or 31 percent of the stadium's capacity.

According to FIFA, as of June 17, they have sold nearly 1.5 million tickets. However, that number is only about 37 percent of the total capacity of 4 million seats available for the 63 matches of the 2025 Club World Cup.

In fact, the public in the United States is very enthusiastic about soccer, even though it is not their national sport. The 1994 World Cup became the World Cup with the highest total viewership (3.56 million) in history.

The 2024 MLS soccer competition in the United States is the second most-watched league in the world, with a total audience of 12.1 million, surpassing the Bundesliga (12 million), Serie A (11.6 million), and LaLiga (10.7 million).

In addition to having few participants, the Club World Cup has also sparked controversy from the outset due to concerns over player safety. This is related to the increasingly congested schedule faced by players in a single season as a result of the changes in the tournament format, following the alterations in the Champions League format and national team matches.

Rodri, the midfielder for Manchester City, in 2024 revealed that players are considering a strike due to the congested schedule. According to him, the optimal number of matches, when players can perform at their best, is 40-50 games in a season. Currently, players can play up to 70-80 matches, depending on how far their team progresses in a competition.

Players from the club in the United States are also not enthusiastic about the Club World Cup. For instance, the Seattle Sounders players protested the increasing number of matches by wearing shirts that read "Club World Cash Grab" during warm-ups ahead of an MLS match in early June.

The criticism from this Seattle player is not excessive, as the club's motivation is solely to pursue the prize in this tournament, which totals 1 billion US dollars.

Learning from the inaugural edition of the new format of the Club World Cup in the United States, FIFA needs to listen to the voices of the players. As stated by Rodri, players must be taken into account because they are the main actors in the football business.

Not everything has to be about money, but also about the quality of the match. When players have sufficient recovery time, they can showcase their best abilities. The audience's desire to witness quality football can only be fulfilled when players perform at their best.