Joe Wright
FIFA’s new flagship Club World Cup takes place in June and July 2025 across different cities in the United States.
The expanded tournament will see not only the champions of the six different FIFA confederations but major clubs from across the globe competing in a 32-team tournament — one that will largely mirror the format of the traditional World Cup for national teams.
The likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea will be involved, along with MLS franchises Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders. That means we could see Lionel Messi facing some of Europe’s biggest clubs at least one more time before his storied career comes to an end.
Yet the competition has met plenty of opposition. Professionals in the game have expressed concern about the strain being placed on players by introducing another expanded tournament, and with broadcasting and sponsorship agreements still being pursued by FIFA, it is not entirely clear yet where a lot of the necessary funding will come from.
That said, according to reports, there could be significant prize money on offer for those teams taking part.
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FIFA has not yet announced the details of the Club World Cup 2025 prize money. However, reports suggest the sums on offer could be huge.
According to ESPN, the winners of the 2025 tournament could pocket $100 million. That is only around $31m less than Real Madrid received for winning the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League, so the Club World Cup could be a lucrative month indeed if these are the sort of financial rewards available.
The total prize fund at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is estimated to be around $2.5 billion. That’s an astonishing sum given the total pot for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was $440m.
According to Sports Illustrated, each of the 32 teams taking part will receive approximately $50m before any possible results-based bonuses are taken into account. In other words, a team will earn 10 times the amount of the 2023 tournament winners simply by turning up.
Again, though, these huge figures are speculative, and it’s this speculation that is adding to a sense of unease. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is under pressure to make it clear exactly how his grand new club competition is going to be paid for. Broadcasting agreements and sponsorship deals will go a long way towards making up the potential shortfall, but again, details on these conversations are scarce.
Joe Wright is a Senior Editor at Sporting News, managing global soccer and the UK team. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has extensive experience covering some of the biggest events in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup, which included the final in Moscow.
