Football: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
The final of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup took place on 13 July at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, United States, and the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has hailed the tournament as a “huge success” and added that "the golden era of global club football has started”.
However, the tournament has been criticised in some association football quarters.
Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool FC Manager, described the tournament as “the worst idea ever implemented in football".
The quality of some of the pitches has also been criticised and poor attendance at a number of the matches has also been mentioned.
But the main complaint has been the heat in which the tournament was played, which this year was moved to the summer. Conditions have been described as “very dangerous” and normal training sessions have been described as “impossible”.
Also, the international football players union, FIFPro, has expressed concern about the extreme heat faced by players during the tournament, demanding more flexibility on kick-off times and protocols.
And its President, Sergio Marchi, has stated that:
"The tournament was held under unacceptable conditions… that put the players' physical integrity at risk."
And has added that:
"This situation must not only be denounced but must be firmly warned against. What happened cannot be repeated under any circumstances at next year's FIFA World Cup.”
Infantino has responded to the heat complaints as follows:
"Of course, the heat is definitely an issue. It's an issue around the world. I remember it was the same in the Olympics in Paris and in other football games.”
And has added, regarding the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played from 11 June - 19 July, in the United States, Canada and Mexico, that:
"The conditions need cooling breaks, watering the pitch and seeing how we can do things better. But we have stadiums in America that are covered and one in Canada in Vancouver which is covered, and we will definitely use these stadiums more during the day.”
In financial terms, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup has, undoubtedly, been a success financially, generating over US$2 billion (around €1.7 billion) in revenues and averaging US$33 million (around €28.2 million) per match.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
