The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup may have already begun, but it has elicited very little noise. Despite the supposed importance of the competition, many fans do not care enough to tune in and see which teams are performing well on the international stage. Why is there so little excitement about getting to see the teams play even more than they normally would?
The first thing that confuses football fans is the criteria for qualifying for the event. 12 European clubs made it to the Club World Cup. While some of them do make sense for those following European football, others seem to make little sense. A great example of that is Chelsea. The club participates in the event, despite finishing the Premier League 4th in the 2024/25 season, and playing in the Conference rather than the Champions League.
Chelsea qualified for the Club World Cup because of the Champions League title they won in the 2020/21 season. Real Madrid and Manchester City also booked their place in the competition by becoming European champions. The remaining nine teams qualified due to being the nine best-ranked teams in the UEFA four-year ranking.
While, at first glance, using the ranking and the League titles may seem like a reasonable way to choose the clubs, the system falls apart upon closer inspection. It leads to a situation in which clubs like FC Porto or Red Bull Salzburg, which have made little impact on European football in recent seasons, qualify for the Club World Cup. At the same time, two out of the four teams that played in this year’s Champions League semifinals, FC Barcelona and Arsenal, do not meet the criteria.
The qualifying structure is broken and leads to many of the most influential teams not taking part in the competition. This, in turn, means that many fans are simply not interested in seeing how it plays out.
Despite the broken qualifying, the Club World Cup should make some noise among football fans, but at least in the case of the European supporters, it’s been extraordinarily quiet. Even those rooting for the teams who did make it into the competition seem to rarely ever mention it.
Many would prefer their teams not to take part in the Club World Cup. While the monetary prizes are quite enticing, there is little prestige in the competition. It becomes a burned for the already worn-out players, as it cuts their summer break short and gives them significantly less time to rest before the upcoming season. Due to that fact, some fans choose not to watch the games as they do not want to support the addition of yet another event to the already full calendar of their players.
Another problem is the great difference in levels between some teams. On June 15, Bayern Munich played against Auckland City. While both teams are highly ranked in their respective categories, they are by no means on the same level. Bayern’s team is filled with full-time footballers who focus only on improving their football skills. On the other hand, many of the players of Auckland City have full-time jobs outside of the sport. It was no surprise to anyone when the New Zealanders lost 10:0.
In the end, the Club World Cup is a poorly thought-out event that doesn’t interest many people enough to tune in. Fans forget that there is still some football to be watched before the summer, and many stations do not bother transmitting the games. If the competition wants to become a permanent fixture on the calendar, it needs to be thoroughly reworked.
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