FIFA have been forging ahead with their plans for the Club World Cup to be expanded into 32 teams and held next summer in the USA, with 12 teams competing from Europe, including Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Amid widespread questioning of the tournament, Real Madrid’s latest move has cast further doubt on the competition.
It was sold to the top European clubs as a tournament that just qualifying for would be worth around €50m in TV money, and the tournament being a worth a total of €2b. As per Relevo though, Real Madrid have not budgeted for any income from the tournament next year as part of their annual accounts.
The reason being is that they do not feel they have enough information to provide accurate figures on the tournament. Despite FIFA‘s big claims about the tournament, there remains little in the way of detail. The venues have been confirmed, but football’s governing body have only announced one main sponsor in Chinese technology company Hisense, and are yet to sell the TV rights for the competition.
There have been widespread calls to reduce the calendar at the top level of football, and yet FIFA are flying in the face of that, and with little more than projections behind the numbers being talked about by FIFA, it is no surprise that major clubs are not banking on the money already. In theory it is a profitable model, but the top sides will want guarantees.