The "not lively" Club World Cup has been released in the quarterfinals?

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Yan Yu

From the morning of June 15, Cairo Nationals and Miami International kicked off, and by the morning of June 19, Ain and Juventus completed the last game of the first round of the group stage. The 2025 Club World Cup newly created by FIFA has officially made all the top 32 debut. At this moment, we can't say that we have seen the full picture of the Club World Cup, but at least the "first experience stage" has ended, and all the teams have come on stage to show themselves, which is enough to get a glimpse of the leopard.

is not lively enough, but it may not be deserted

First ask a question: Has this grand event, which claims to represent the "new era of club football", successfully attracted your attention? Everyone's answer is definitely different, but from the perspective of the overall public opinion trend, I'm afraid there are more negatives. From the major player unions suing FIFA last year to the later sale of broadcast rights difficult, the Club World Cup has been in a whirlpool of controversy. As the competition begins, the most discussed topics related to it are not which teams are most promising to win the championship and which teams may become dark horses, but "the ticket price is too expensive" and "poor sales". This is enough to show that the appeal and authority of the event itself are still a bit less interesting, so people's focus is more "biased".

When the media reported that some ticket prices of the Club World Cup plummeted, FIFA even had to rely on "student increase in votes" to attract the opening game, and the impression that "no one watched this game" had begun to form. Then there was the emotion from Chelsea coach Maresca: "I think the atmosphere on the scene is a bit strange, and the stadium looks empty." This deepened this impression. Later, there is another ironclad evidence: Ulsan HD vs. Mamelodi, and the two unwelcome Asian and African teams faced each other, and the official number of spectators was only 3,412.

But isn't anyone really watching the Club World Cup? If you look at the overall data, you will find that there are actually not very few fans present. The 16 games that have ended have attracted a total of 556,000 live audiences, with an average of 34,800 per game - this average is indeed not as good as many major competitions. For example, the average number of attendees per game in the European Cup last year was 52,600, but compared with the popular Premier League, the average number of live audiences per game in the 2024-25 season was 40,400, which seems that there are not many differences. In addition, there is already a "major showdown" between Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid, which is enough for FIFA to make it a positive example.

In fact, the reason why the Club World Cup "has a lot of audiences" still gives people a feeling that it is not lively. In addition to the uneven attention of the game, FIFA's strategy choice is also very problematic. We have already said before that Infantino obviously overestimated the brand effect of the new event and the consumption capacity of the fans. At the beginning, the ticket price was too high, and the stadium also prefers to go big. According to the news from the competitive network, staff of the FIFA US branch once suggested that the Club World Cup choose more relatively small stadiums commonly used by American professional football teams, so that the attendance rate will be higher and the atmosphere on the scene will be more lively, but Infantino believes that the stadium can also be full and can bring more income.

It is worth mentioning that Chelsea has not faced too many fans on weekdays. The total capacity of their home court Stamford Bridge is only 41,000. The first game against Los Angeles FC attracted a total of 22,000 spectators. The Premier League Blues can be said to have "tryed their best". The game looks like an empty game because the capacity of 70,000 people in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium is really too large. As for the participation of American clubs but did not attract a large number of local fans to help, the reason is obviously not what the Los Angeles coach said, "Atlanta does not love football without Los Angeles." One of the key points is that Los Angeles is very far from Atlanta, and the more important point is that the game is scheduled at 3 pm on local working days.

The strength is very different, but South America is not inferior to Europe

pricing, site selection, schedule... There are problems in many details of the Club World Cup, which not only causes inconvenience to fans, but also has some complaints from participating teams. For example, although the game started at noon can facilitate European fans to watch the live broadcast, the players have to face the scorching sun, which may have an impact on players' health and quality of the game. The turf of some other venues is also considered to be unsuitable for "high-level competitions". Palmeiras 0-0 Porto, Monterrey 1-1 Inter Milan. After the game, coaches or players complained that the venue was too dry, which affected the speed and accuracy of cooperation.

I don't know if it is because of these weather and venue factors. The first round of the New Club World Cup group stage was not as open as "expected". The score of 0-0 alone appeared three times, and there were 1-0 and two 1-1. At this time, we can review last year's European Cup, where there was no 0-0 in the first round of the group stage. Of course, we can't say that the New Club World Cup is "not intense and everyone is conservative" - ​​the opening game can prove that Messi has fought his life, and without a goal, it is true that the goalkeepers of both sides performed well.

In terms of data, the number of goals scored in the New World Club Cup is not low, with an average of 2.75 goals in the first round of the group stage, which is equivalent to the "offensive recovery" European Cup average (2.78 goals) throughout the 2020 European Cup, but this is mainly due to several big scores that have been pushed up the overall situation. Among them, Paris' 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid can be said to be the only top showdown in the first round. The huge gap makes people marvel at the strength of the new UEFA Champions League champions again. But note that Atletico Madrid was sent off central defender Lenglet in the 78th minute, and Paris scored the last two goals near the end of the game, so the score was somewhat accidental. Atletico Madrid will definitely not be able to play, but if one person is not missing, it may not necessarily lose so much.

As for Juventus' 5-0 against Ain and Bayern's 10-0 against Auckland City, it is completely the "trash game" that some fans expect. The level gap between the two sides is too big, and there is no sign of a miracle.. As the only non-professional team among the top 32, the blood-scrapped Oceania representative Auckland City is worthy of admiration, but their ability to enter the Club World Cup was originally a matter of the competition system. Australia has long joined the AFC, and the A-League teams can only compete for the Club World Cup through the AFC Champions League channels - which also includes two New Zealand professional clubs participating in the A-League.

Speaking of the AFC Champions League, the 2021 AFC Champions League champion Riyadh Crescent has just won a breath for Asian football. Under the leadership of new coach Simeone Inzaghi, he drew 1-1 with Real Madrid, the most popular among the audience in this competition. But the other three Asian teams lost all, and lost to their opponents in South America, Africa and Europe respectively. It seems that it is still difficult to challenge higher levels at the club level. The Central and North American teams also performed mediocrely, except for Miami International and Monterrey draws, the Seattle Bayer, Los Angeles FC and Pachuca all lost to their European and South American opponents. In addition, the African team lost both games against Europe and South America, only defeating Ulsan in Asia and drew with Miami in Central and North America.

In the showdown between Europe and South America, the "traditional two strong" in world football, we are currently in a balanced state, and the three direct dialogues are all tied: Palmeiras 0-0 Porto, Boca Youth 2-2 Benfica, and Fruminense 0-0 Dortmund. Faced with opponents outside Europe, South American teams won all three games, and their record was even better than European teams that had two "failed torture" games. Perhaps, compared with European counterparts who have just experienced a busy season, the South American team, which is still in the middle of the season, does have some advantage.