FIFA President Infantino has called an emergency meeting to attempt resolve a series of factors affecting the 2025 Club World Cup.
FIFA have struggled to find a broadcast rights agreement for it’s new expanded Club World Cup (which is earmarked for June-July 2025) prompting Gianni Infantino to call an urgent meeting with several top executives from the broadcasting industry on Friday to resolve the ongoing major issue facing the organisation regarding the tournament.
According to The Athletic, the involved clubs have not been informed on the participation competition money or prize allocation which initially was suggested would see top clubs earning close to 50 million dollars for their involvement in the new FIFA competition.
Although FIFA was initially in talks with Apple, who hold exclusive rights to broadcast MLS, a mutually suitable agreement was not forthcoming which prompted the governing body to look elsewhere in securing a deal with FIFA also concerned about a lack of sponsors signing up to be part of the new tournament which will be staged in the United States and featuring 32 clubs.
Competition from the likes of the Women’s Euros and Wimbledon mean that TV slots are already at at a premium with CBS Sports CEO David Berson admitting to The Athletic that given they hold the rights for UEFA competitions, this FIFA tournament is not a priority: “We will look at all the properties that come up. I’m not trying to avoid it, but it will be looked at on a case-by-case basis based on the value of each one. The reality is that we now have top-level European football content almost all year round. So we have to look at what the incremental value is for that period of time,” he said.
FIFA up against the clock
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG and the ECA (European Club Association) is also expected to attend the meeting as FIFA look to getting the clubs more involved and creating more certainty about the competition to lure sponsors and dispel any uncertainty about the tournament with venues, match schedules and other details still to be confirmed by FIFA.
Broadcast and advertising revenues seem to be a key aspect that clubs need clarification on with the competition already generating controversy in an already packed fixture list with a series of players coming out and voicing their concerns about burnout.
Player’s union FIFPRO has already commenced legal proceedings against the world football’s governing body as they look to seek to protect players’ rights to guaranteed and protected breaks with English players’ union, The Professional Footballers’ Association and their French counterparts UNFP are co-claimants.