Much Ado About Nothing: CWC Transfer Update | OneFootball

The Problem

One of the (many) criticisms of the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup was that the tournament would be played out during the summer transfer window. There was a lot of hand-wringing over players starting with one club on June 14, then getting sold mid-tournament and not being available for later fixtures, or in the worst case, moving to a different competing club!

The Solution

Well, FIFA brought in their brain trust and found a solution: create a “special” transfer window from June 1 through June 10 to give participating clubs the chance to make moves to bolster their roster, thin their ranks, or just do whatever transfer shenanigans soccer clubs do. The six global soccer confederations all bought into this plan (let’s just go with voluntary compliance, as I have discovered no evidence anyone was coerced). Pundits were excited to see what drama would unfold.

The Outcome

As it turns out, when the window closed at 19:00 in Europe (translation: 2pm ET) there was little to no drama at all. In fact, the entire window was played out on social media platforms such as X and Bluesky with, well, nothing. Your usual punditry and rumormongering was subdued, and there was very little of the excitement and build-up that accompanies the regular transfer process.

OK, there was a good amount of speculation on the future of one Cristiano Ronaldo, whose contract with Saudi club Al Nassr expires on June 30. Various wags floated ideas that he would join his old side Real Madrid. Or his old side Juventus. Maybe one of the Brazilian clubs? A move to Palmeiras would mean a Messi-Ronaldo head-to-head clash in the group phase… pure marketing gold. Perhaps a lateral move to Al Hilal (same owners as Al Nassr, and would keep him in the Saudi orbit)? Some even speculated a one-month contract with LAFC.

Ultimately, Ronaldo played a pair of games for Portugal, scored twice, lifted a Nations League trophy, shook Lamine Yamal’s hand and had nothing to say. Maybe that last bit is the news story; Ronaldo ALWAYS has something to say.

The Business

This is literally the entire set of transfers I could find:

Speculatively, there was lots of interest in River Plate’s 17 year old forward Franco Mastantuono. Real Madrid and Benfica were both keen, but no deal was reached by deadline. Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero is rumored to have a suitor in Atlético Madrid, but Daniel Levy was too busy firing Ange to respond to calls.

But wait!

There is a mid-tournament mini-window to allow roster updates and trades between June 27 and July 3. And the regular summer transfer window runs from June 16 through September 1. Club World Cup sides can still negotiate and announce deals while competing, they just can’t field those players.