July 16 – Almost a year before the inaugural expanded 32-team Club World Cup, FIFA has invited bids for rights to broadcast the 63-game tournament in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East & North Africa.
The tender effectively ends what for some time looked like being an all-markets bid from Apple for broadcast rights that would have underpinned the tournament. The tender announcement comes weeks after Bloomberg reported that talks between FIFA and Apple about global broadcast rights for the June 15-July 13 event in the United States had stalled.
Apple took their first big step into football streaming in 2023 with the 10-year acquisition of MLS rights for $2.5 billion. FIFA’s play was to open up paid-for streaming channels rather than necessarily having to rely on its traditional broadcasters market by market, many of which have public service commitments that require national team fixtures to be on free to air broadcast channels.
There had been some comment in the US that with the failure of the Apple deal could ultimately lead to the postponement of the 2025 edition of the Club World Cup, the first in its 32-team iteration.
FIFA said it is now accepting joint bids for both the 2025 and 2029 editions or standalone bids for the 2025 edition. The deadline is August 20.
The Club World Cup has previously been a small-scale annual event for continental champions but in future will feature a significant number of the world football’s powerhouse clubs.
Europe is to send 12 teams including Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
FIFA said it will accept broadcast bids in three other regions – Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and China – as part of a separate process later.
Venues for the 2025 tournament have yet to be announced though the majority are expected to be on the East Coast.
A revamped CWC has long been coveted by FIFA President Gianni Infantino ever since he was he was elected in 2016.
FIFA has promised to include the European Clubs Association in “an innovative, progressive style of consultation and decision-making” about the tournament.
Yet no major sponsorship deals have yet been announced though rumours are rife that underpinning finance will now come from Saudi Arabia rather than the commercial markets.
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