The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will have the participation of 32 teams for the first time, held in the US from June 14 to July 13. The total prize value will be up to 1 billion USD and the champion team will receive 125 million USD.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino shared that this is the biggest award ever given to a club in a tournament that can format 7 matches. Nearly half of the total amount (475 million USD) will be paid to the teams based on achievements. If a team wins the championship with a perfect record, they will have an additional 87.62 million USD.
Each team will play 3 group stage matches, then the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, just like the old format of the World Cup with 32 teams. 12 European clubs will receive between 12.8 million USD and 38.2 million USD due to their high rankings in the rankings based on sports and trade criteria. Next, the South American teams will receive $15.2 million.
The only Atlantic club - Auckland City will receive $3.58 million. The remaining teams from North - Central America, Africa and Asia will receive 9.55 million USD per match in the outside round.
FIFA has been widely criticized for changing the scale of the Club World Cup, leading to a large number of matches for many teams. However, looking at this huge bonus, clubs may be much more comfortable. Rich teams like Real Madrid, PSG or Man City, if they win the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, can earn money from a few months of business in the official season.
After a series of tournaments in Europe such as the Champions League, Premier League... increased their bonuses, FIFA was forced to do so, even making it more magnificent to attract attention.
In December 2024, FIFA signed an agreement with DAZN broadcasting the 2025 Club World Cup. The deal is worth $1 billion and DAZN will broadcast all matches on its platform for free. Because it is broadcast for free, the tournament will be more accessible to more fans. Teams that have more money and are promoted more strongly are having a hard time refusing.
Despite the large prize money, the FIFA Club World Cup could bring a negative side in terms of the difference in level between teams. Strong teams participating in the tournament will have more opportunities to make money, thereby investing in return, thereby increasing their strength compared to opponents in domestic or continental tournaments.
Even in this FIFA tournament, there are teams like Auckland City that only receive a few million USD while Real Madrid can receive hundreds of millions of USD.
European teams are in a very different level compared to their opponents in the other continents. Maybe from now on, the FIFA Club World Cup will be just another version of the UEFA Champions League when other teams will have a hard time overthrowing the dominance of European teams.
