The FIFA Club World Cup reaches its conclusion on Sunday in New Jersey, where English side Chelsea F.C. will face French club Paris Saint-Germain. President Trump is expected to attend. The tournament has been played across the United States in recent weeks and has served as a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup.
Paul Tenorio, a writer for The Athletic who covers the culture of soccer in America, discussed the event on NPR's All Things Considered. He said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who designed the competition, has a close relationship with Trump. Infantino has met with the president in the Oval Office several times, invited him to the final, and FIFA recently announced it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York.
Tenorio described this as part of a pattern. Infantino built a close relationship with Vladimir Putin before the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and he lived in Qatar and kept good ties with its government before the 2022 tournament. He has also cultivated links with the Saudi royal family, with a World Cup expected in Saudi Arabia in 2034. In Tenorio's view, Infantino uses the power of his office to build political connections that he believes benefit FIFA.
Asked whether the Club World Cup was a success, Tenorio called it "a really good idea poorly executed." He praised the way it gave a stage to teams from South America, Africa and Asia, which cannot enter the Champions League because that competition is limited to European clubs. He pointed to Brazil's Fluminense reaching the semifinals as the kind of result the tournament was meant to produce.
The execution in the United States, he said, was another matter. Ticket prices priced out fans and left stadiums empty, missing a chance to grow the game and build excitement for next summer. He also criticized the rushed planning, the focus on television revenue, and the way the event has been talked about as though it has surpassed the Champions League in importance.
Heat was a major problem. To fit prime-time television windows in Europe, games were scheduled at noon or 3 p.m. in places such as Orlando, Charlotte, Washington and New York during heat waves. Tenorio said that lowered the level of play and worsened the experience for fans in the stands. FIFA is reportedly discussing placing some afternoon World Cup games in indoor, air-conditioned stadiums such as those in Dallas and Atlanta, and Tenorio said the tournament forces a choice between European TV audiences and the experience of fans in America and around the world.
On the final itself, Tenorio expects a high-level match. PSG recently won the Champions League and, he said, looked as dominant as ever in beating Real Madrid in the semifinal. Unlike the usual summer preseason tours, this event is an end-of-season trip, and both finalists have fielded their best players. He called PSG possibly one of the most dominant teams over a season in some time.
Travel restrictions have not caused problems for the teams so far, Tenorio said, since exemptions cover players, staff and their families. Fans are a different story. Supporters from countries on the travel ban list cannot attend, and visa wait times of two to three years in some countries will keep others out.
Looking at the domestic game, Tenorio, who has a book on the Messi effect coming next spring, noted that Inter Miami was the only one of three MLS teams to advance from the group stage. He said that shows how far MLS must grow to compete globally. He expects major league changes, possibly by 2027 or 2028, driven by Lionel Messi's arrival, the Club World Cup and next year's World Cup. Having grown up in a far more barren soccer landscape, he called the progress remarkable, though he said domestic soccer still has a long way to go.
