DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
Starting today, 32 men's soccer teams from around the world will be playing across the United States in 11 different cities, all for a chance to be crowned world champions in a month's time. It's the FIFA Club World Cup, not to be confused with the World Cup happening in 2026. To tell us more all about it, we're joined by NPR's Rafael Nam. Hi there. Good morning.
RAFAEL NAM, BYLINE: Hey, Debbie.
ELLIOTT: So I suspect there are people like me among our listeners who are not familiar with Club World Cup. So tell us what it is.
NAM: I'll catch you up. It's this big new initiative that FIFA has come up with taking place about a year before the World Cup kicks off across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. And the idea here is to bring 32 of the best teams around the world, so a mix of the recent champions of the top regional tournaments around the world and others selected based on regional rankings. It's a group that includes some teams people may recognize - Chelsea from England, and Real Madrid from Spain, both of which have won the Champions League in Europe in recent years. And there are teams from South America, like Botafogo from Brazil, which won the Copa Libertadores last year, and also teams from Asia and Africa. There's even Auckland City, the only amateur team in the competition.
ELLIOTT: So what does the competition look like? Should we expect some exciting play here?
NAM: Well, there are some appealing matchups. Paris Saint-Germain - this top French team that just won the Champions League in Europe - is facing Atletico de Madrid from Spain in California on Sunday. And there are intercontinental clashes that could be fun. Bayern Munich - this powerhouse from Germany - will play Argentina's Boca Juniors later this month.
ELLIOTT: So if all these world-famous teams are here, why isn't the Club World Cup getting more buzz?
NAM: You know, because FIFA has still not convincingly answered a key question - why do we even need this competition? Listen, Debbie, there's already a lot of soccer people can watch. There's the Premier League in England, LaLiga in Spain. There's also the Champions League in Europe. And FIFA has tried this sort of intercontinental tournament before, and it has not been popular. The Club World Cup used to be a much smaller tournament, with only six or seven teams, held in countries like Morocco or Japan. But FIFA is really keen to make this work. It's offering $1 billion to participating teams, with the winners set to take over $100 million. And Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, is going all out to drum up interest. Here he is talking to media this week.
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GIANNI INFANTINO: Be part of history, you know. Football is such an important sport all over the world. We'll have billions of people watching this Club Cup from home who would love to come and to attend.
NAM: But, you know, Debbie, all that salesmanship in the world can't hide the fact that so far, ticket sales are slow.
ELLIOTT: How slow?
NAM: There are still a lot of tickets available across all games. Even the opening game and the finals still have tickets available. One issue here was pricing. FIFA implemented a dynamic pricing policy, so tickets initially were priced pretty high. But FIFA has had to slash prices quite a lot, and that's created a lot of discontent among fans who bought tickets early. I'll give you a personal example. Back in April, I thought, you know what? I'll go see Ulsan - this team from South Korea - play Mamelodi Sundowns, a team from South Africa. Tickets back then, when I bought them in April, were about $120. They are now about $55.
ELLIOTT: So you're taking a loss.
NAM: I know, I know. And this is happening across the board. And FIFA is still struggling to sell tickets. Now, FIFA is hoping that once the competition gets underway, more fans will get excited, driving up attendance and eyeballs.
ELLIOTT: That's NPR's Rafael Nam. Thank you so much.
NAM: Thank you, Debbie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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