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Gianni Infantino has tied his legacy to the 32-team tournament, even inscribing his name on the trophy. Its success is far from guaranteed.
Tariq Panja
Next summer, the United States will play host to an event that may define the legacy of FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino.
The Club World Cup, featuring 32 men’s teams gathered from leagues across the globe, is Mr. Infantino’s signature innovation, a competition he is so wedded to that his name appears on the newly created championship trophy not once but twice.
The tournament will take place in June and July in stadiums around the United States and is an attempt to deliver on Mr. Infantino’s oft-quoted catchphrase about making soccer “truly global.” It is his ambition to create a quadrennial club tournament that will grow into one of sports’ tent-pole events and endure long after he leaves office.
But despite Mr. Infantino’s high hopes, there is no guarantee that the tournament will be a success. Obstacles and missteps have blighted the path to the first game, and a huge uncertainty over its funding continues, even as a draw for the event is set to take place in Miami on Dec. 5.
In Europe, leagues and the global players’ union have filed lawsuits over what they say are Mr. Infantino and FIFA’s unilateral moves to add more events to an already congested global calendar that risks the health of players. Fans have also expressed dismay at how, in an effort to generate interest, FIFA appeared to have found a way to secure a place for Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami squad, eliminated from the Major League Soccer playoffs in the opening round. That happened despite Mr. Infantino’s insistence that the tournament would be the most merit-based in the world. But some of the biggest concerns persist around the event’s business model.
With less than a year to go before the tournament, FIFA, which has kept its revenue projections guarded, has started to share some of the details with a broader circle of officials and some of the 32 participating teams. Those include some of Europe’s biggest, like Real Madrid, which have demanded significant eight-figure fees in addition to prize money to appear.
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