Club World Cup: An Embarrassment For FIFA?

The newly formed FIFA Club World Cup has attracted criticism since its idea was put out by the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino. Lack of interest for clubs to play, lack of interest from fans, inclusion of certain teams, and also lack of interest in broadcasting this tournament. It was only agreed in December of 2024 that DAZN would be broadcasting the tournament worldwide.

None of the mainstream media in America or other parts of the world tried to take up the broadcasting rights. So embarrassing for a tournament like this. After that was settled, there came up another problem. Whoever watched the Dortmund vs Mamelodi Sundowns match at the TQL stadium would have wondered where the Dortmund substitutes were. The answer was delivered by the German team's social media admin by posting a photo of all their substitutes gathered in shorts and t-shirts inside their locker room to watch the match.

Severe heatwaves have been a serious problem for players since the start of the tournament. The first blockbuster match of the tournament, Atletico Madrid vs PSG, where the European Champions won 4-0, was set at 12 pm midday at a temperature of more than 33 degrees Celsius in a stadium that is as wide open as a bowl, the Rose Bowl stadium. The match attracted a strong crowd of 80,190 while they were set up under the scorching sun. The situation of the players was even pathetic. The ground was so hot that Atletico left back Marcus Llorente said his toes were burning after the match. Even though PSG won the match comfortably, their manager, Luis Enrique, confirmed that the match was affected by the temperature. On the other hand, Chelsea had to drop their training sessions in Florida because of the extreme heat.

While the sun hurt the midday kickoffs, the clouds were the problem for some others. People who were at the Inter and Co stadium in Florida for the match between Benfica and Auckland City would have hated themselves for making the trip; the match was delayed for more than 2 hours. The reason? Thunderstorm and lightning. For the first timers, there is a rule by FIFA that states that any match should be stopped at any point if lightning or any adverse weather conditions appear. The suspension at the minimum would be 30 minutes and would extend until the sky is clear. Anyway, that was a group stage match; now let's look at the Round of 16 match between Chelsea and Benfica. The match was delayed during the crucial minutes. The Blues manager came out and said, “It’s a joke; it’s not football.” The game went on well till the 85th minute; Chelsea was leading, and then the lightning struck, and boom, it stopped for 2 hours. As expected, the game changed after the break, and Benfica went on to equalise. Even though the English side went on to win the match 4-1 in extra time, the tempo of the game was broken. The question still strikes: if there had been no break, should Chelsea have won the match in normal time?

A total of 6 matches have been delayed or halted in the middle due to adverse weather conditions. Just remember that this was meant to be like a trial World Cup before the real one next year. Imagine a World Cup final being halted at 1-1 in the 87th minute. People will be going crazy for their countries and referee whistles to stop the match. 2 hours later, do you think the adrenaline would be the same for the audience or the players? It changes. It may act as an advantage for some teams as well. And the audience issue? I don’t think it affects the real World Cups that much because people travel across the oceans for these things. Mexico and the USA have already hosted World Cups in 1986 and 1994, respectively, and the turnouts have been good.

With the number of teams set to increase, the matches will also increase, and it’s sure that a lot of matches could be midday kickoffs. If the roofs aren’t closed, the players and fans are definitely going to suffer.

The weather, with all the technology today, still surprises us, so something that FIFA should be doing is scheduling the matches appropriately. The midday kickoffs can be either avoided or shifted to stadiums that have sunroofs. And the rules can be tweaked for cloud problems if needed. From this Club World Cup we can understand that football is not always about money but about the game, the fans, and the players.

To answer the question, it hasn’t been a real embarrassing show by FIFA, but there have been really good moments throughout the tournament, like the early rush of the Brazilians, Al Hilal shocking Real Madrid and City, and goal fests by Bayern and City. So the moments were there, and FIFA can take lessons, and changes can be made ahead of the upcoming 2026 World Cup.