5 Burning Questions Ahead of the Club World Cup | OneFootball

This tournament has been played before but is now bigger (more teams!), better (if you believe the hype), and with one of the weirdest-looking trophies we’ve ever seen. Here are the five biggest questions before we head into the tournament.

1. Wait… Isn’t the World Cup next year?

This seems to be the question I get the most when I bring this up to my casual friends. Yes, the World Cup is next summer, 2026, but THIS is the CLUB World Cup. Meaning it’s comprised of club teams you’ve probably heard of: Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, (and a bunch of others not from Europe).

So the natural follow-up question is: And why are they doing this? Fair question. Many of the managers and players have asked the same thing, and expressed extreme dismay at having to play even more matches in an already dense and congested fixture schedule. But hey, don’t you want to PROVE that your team is better than all of the other clubs in the WORLD?!

Sure. But let’s be honest, this is more likely just FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s legacy piece. This an event he’s foisting on the world (along with that weird-looking trophy) so that he can be the architect of a great tournament and leave a legacy at FIFA. Again, if it wasn’t clear, no one really wants this but the brass at FIFA. They have a longstanding feud with UEFA, whose Champions League competition is by far the world’s most popular club soccer competition, and Infantino seems to want to rival that competitions’ success.

Regardless of WHY it’s happening, it is definitely happening, so with that being said…

2. Does anybody care?

Tough to tell, but according to the lead-up, they definitely do. Classic clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have already stated they want to win it. The first team to win a new tournament is a nice feather-in-the-cap. Similar to Lebron James wanting to win the inaugural NBA Cup, even though we still don’t know why we care about that tournament.

The other big reason to want to win? Cold, hard, CASH. The winning club will take home $125M, with even more money possible for the larger clubs who attract more of an audience. In the era of financial regulation across the soccer world, taking in an additional 9 figures of spending power can pack quite the punch.

There’s also this miniature transfer window before the tournament kicks off where teams from all of the regions are beefing up their squads with European talent. Brazilian club Flamengo just brought in Jorginho and rumor has it that LAFC is circling Cristiano Ronaldo… All eyes on that one.

3. So Who’s Gonna Win?

According to the bookies, Real Madrid. Followed by a slew of European clubs before we finally get to our first South American (Brazilian, to be exact) clubs, Palmeiras and Flamengo. But their odds are so long that the term long-shot comes up short. See the full list below:

There you have it, clubs from all over the entire world and yet the first 9 betting favorites are all European. Which leads me to what is probably the most fun aspect of this tournament: How will the South American clubs fare? Long considered little brothers of the club soccer world to their European siblings, I think these South American sides have a lot to prove. And with referees from all over the world, the Euro boys may not get the same treatment they’re used to. The South American game is TOUGH. And with an added chip on their shoulders of “nobody believes in us,” can one of these classic clubs make a run for the trophy? Speaking of…

4. What’s With The Trophy?

Source: Public Domain

Honestly? I don’t know. It looks like a cross between the Eye of Sauron and a prop from Indiana Jones. Which… is kind of badass? There is also a key which unlocks it from a flat shield into a sort of orbital molecular atom, which President Donald Trump seemed extremely confused by when Infantino unveiled it in the Oval Office.

The trophy was designed by Tiffany & Co. and is loaded with fascinating easter eggs and insider nods. There is a planetary map which shows exactly where our solar system was when FIFA was founded 120 years ago, there are writings in 13 languages plus braille, and emblems for each of the six FIFA confederations.

Overall, it’s pretty impressive. As much as I want to make fun of it, it’s pretty cool. And the fact that whoever wins the trophy will have a patch of it on their teams’ kit for the next FOUR YEARS, makes it extra special.

5. Where Can I Watch It?

The FIFA Club World Cup will have every single match available for FREE from the DAZN streaming app. Select games will be televised by TNT, but if you’re a sicko like the rest of us at Hooligan, you’re gonna want the app.

And if that’s not enough coverage for you, be sure to listen to the Club World Cup: A Global Showdown Podcast from Hooligan Soccer.

The players and managers and everyone involved in these cups may have longed for a summer break, but there’s no rest for the weary, and for the fans? It’s another summer of delight.