5 Reasons Why FIFA Club World Cup has Been Underwhelming so Far
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is finally underway. A tournament that has been convened in place of the now-scrapped Confederations Cup has seen 2 rounds of fixtures happen. Still, so far, the interest around the tournament has been minimal and has seen some very low attendance, including in double digits.
What are the reasons for these low turnouts and low attendance? We dissect the reasons into 5 main factors,
Why FIFA World Cup has Been Underwhelming
1. No proper marketing
The hype for the tournament has been minimal if not zero. FIFA’s marketing team has not been able to create an ample reason for viewers to tune in quite like how the English FA or UEFA has done for their respective competitions. Even though Inter Milan vs Barcelona have no local rivalries, the history of these teams is enough for the marketing team to hype the individual fanbase as well as the neutrals to tune in.
2. Tired players
The best players in the world and most of them usually play in the European Leagues. With the regular season in Europe having just ended a little less than a month ago, players are coming off a 9-month season with very little energy, and it reflects on their performances. Without the best players giving their best performances, it creates very little interest for the fans.
Also Read: FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Qualification Scenario After Second Round.
3. Lack of knowledge
A user of X posted a video of a game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Ulsan, where he could physically count no more than 98 fans in the stadium to view the game. Mamelodi Sundowns is a team from South Africa, while Ulsan is a South Korean team with no global hype. Making them play on a neutral venue without making fans aware of their rich history and quality has been very damaging for the teams and the tournament as a whole.
4. Poor research on the venues
While FIFA has been trying to promote football in the United States, the Club World Cup has been poorly researched, as the tournament has done nothing to promote the sport in the country.
5. No proper TV rights
Every year, the Premier League TV rights get sold for billions of Euros while TV channels duel for the rights to show the world’s most coveted league. Meanwhile, FIFA had to air its premium club competition for free on DAZN, showing how poorly everything has been planned.
It’s time FIFA went back to the drawing board and laid out its plans from its very foundations and introspected. From the outset, the tournament had an air of being a “glorified friendly” rather than a competition where players lay out all on the field.
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