The debate that football fans in Generations were also the most unanswered: what clubs, in which continents, played the best football?
Unlike the national teams that were played with each other in the Quadrienal World Cup, it rarely overlapped among the best teams in Europe and South America, or North America, with the exception of “friendly” summer competitions.
The FIFA Club World Cup, which begins this weekend in the United States and extends to the final on July 13, expanded its previously smaller format in an attempt to provide an answer. It now has 32 teams, from six continents, playing for a total awards group of $ 1 billion.
“This is to boast of rights,” said Jillis, FIFA football director, the global football governing body and a former winning coach of the United States National World Cup World Cup. “The prize money is part of this. But most importantly, this is an opportunity to be the first world club champion.”
However, as the tournament opens, money is more than a small part of it. The drop in ticket prices and the accusations of the major league soccer players that the League had agreed to participate in a “cash hoarding” that unfair them unfairly, have raised the issue of how much purchase in the new tournament has from the public and the American players.
When tickets for Saturday opening game in Florida between Inter Miami, with Lionel Messi, and the Egyptian side Al Ahly went on sale in December through Ticketmaster, a ticket from the upper deck cost $ 379 at that time. This week, a similar ticket was for sale for only $ 116. According to NPR, the FIFA has worked with a local Florida university to offer four courtesy tickets for students who pay a single $ 20 ticket. Assistance for the opening game was announced in 60,927, a little shy to the 65,000 stadium capacity.
Bayern Munich, the perennial German champion, listed lower Sunday tickets for his first Sunday in Cincinnati for only $ 107 when his tickets went on sale in December; On Saturday, tickets were resold in Stubhub for half of that.
For only $ 8, fans can see a June 25 game between Japanese Urawa red diamonds and the Mexican side CF Monterrey.
“We anticipate large assists and electric atmospheres in its inaugural edition, with emotion growing with each round of matches and the tournament ultimately as the indisputable pinnacle of world club football,” FIFA said, partly from a statement sent to NBC News. “The appetite speaks for itself: fans of more than 130 countries have already bought tickets. The 10 main markets are led by the United States, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal, a clear sign of anticipation and global scope.”
As a new tournament, the Club World Cup cannot offer much on the path of prestige or history. On the other hand, it has offered a historic amount of awards, with $ 525 million of the total of $ 1 billion distributed to equipment on a sliding scale, guaranteed, only for making the 32 team field. In the upper part, European brands such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain will win between $ 12.8 and $ 38 million; At the bottom, the Auckland City FC of New Zealand FC will win $ 3.5 million.
The remaining $ 475 million of the group of billions of dollars will be determined by the actions of the teams; Make the 16 Round wins each club $ 7.5 million, with quarterfinals $ 13.1 million, and increasing to the final. The winner can raise up to $ 125 million, all of which adds much more than the prisoners, which has left the major league soccer players asking why their court of unexpected gain is not greater.
Before a June 1 match of the Seattle Sounders, white t -shirts were put during the warm -up that said “Club World Ca $ H Grab”, with an image of Mr. Monopoly’s character with a “MLS” cup hat and holding a bag that reads “FIFA”. The protest led the team owner to scold the players later, according to the Seattle Times.
The three teams in the World Cup field of the Major League Soccer, Seattle, Inter Miami and Los Angeles Football Club club are guaranteed for $ 9.55 million to participate, before bonds are gone for performance. The profits of the players of participation or performance in a “mandatory tournament or non -compulsive tournament” are limited to $ 1 million, according to the terms of the Collective Building Agreement of the League.
The players union has continued to press publicly to increase the stake of the players of what is currently a 90/10 division, and has indicated that before an important tournament in 2024, the players and the MLS renegotiated the distribution of the money of the award before landing in a 50-50 division.
In a statement to NBC News on Thursday, MLS said that “he agreed to voluntarily provide additional compensation based on performance to the players of the three participating clubs.” That proposal, said the League, would assign 20% of all awards won from the group stage to the players.
“If a MLS club wins the club’s World Cup, its players would collectively receive more than $ 24 million in performance bonds,” reads the statement. “The owners of the MLS clubs believe that the performance -based incentives are appropriate given the expanded format and the increase in the group of a clue cup awards. The League values the continuous dedication and commitment of its players and hopes to support them since they represent their clubs, and to the football of the Major Leagues, on the global stage this summer.”
On June 8, the Association of Players published in X that it was “deeply disappointed” by the proposal of the League.
“The moment, the nature of substance and reprisals of the proposal sends a clear message: MLS does not respect or value the efforts of the players with respect to this tournament,” reads the publication. “Although it is not surprised, the players and the MLSPA are deeply disappointed by this message.”
“I don’t think sitting out an option,” Seattle Medocampist Albert Rusnak said to journalists on Friday. “Just because again, that within what we have as athletes and winners and we want to go out and win and show that people are wrong, whether we are talking about bonds or people who do not believe we can do anything.”
Ellis, who works for FIFA, believes that the possibility of playing in that global scenario will lead to a strong competition of the players.
“I think American players, if you told someone, ‘Do you want to play in this tournament?’ Of course, do you want to be paid as much as probably? “So there are certain different structures and CBA, and that is internal to that.
“But I think that in terms of what I and my experience we work with some of the best players in the world, elite players want to play against elite players. They want to try themselves, prove their worth and want to compete … Listen, at the end of the day it is an choice, but I think the players will want to play in this event.
“… In American sports when we won, when the Major Leagues Guess team wins, they are world champions. When the NFL (WINE) team, the title is world champion. Well, yes, but they are playing against US teams. This is really a worldwide championship. This is the best clubs in the world.”
