Club World Cup: the winner takes all
Fifa has finally answered one of the key questions around the upcoming relaunch of the Club World Cup — how much it pays. On Wednesday the competition organiser revealed its prize money schedule, with payments based both on turning up and actually winning matches. You can read more on the trials and tribulations of Fifa’s $2bn punt here.
Considering the rates were negotiated with the European Club Association, it’s perhaps little surprise that the bulk of the purse is heading to the top European clubs. Some are promised $38.5mn before a ball has even been kicked, with potential earnings for winning the tournament of $125mn when ends on July 13.
Fifa has made a lot of noise about the Club World Cup being a chance to spread some of football’s wealth beyond Uefa’s sphere of influence. The month-long competition will feature 32 teams from around the globe who qualified largely based on performance in regional tournaments.
Yet the financial impact will be felt differently depending on where a team hails from.
Assuming — perhaps unfairly — that Auckland FC fails to win or draw any of its group games against Bayern Munich, Benfica or Boca Juniors, then the only entrant from Oceania will go home with just $3.6mn. Subtract the costs of competing (eg travel), and that probably doesn’t leave a lot of change.
Teams from Asia, Africa, and North America fare a bit better, with each guaranteed $9.55mn for participating. Even if they lose all their games, the tournament will still deliver an annual revenue boost this year of more than 10 per cent for teams the size of the Seattle Sounders and Urawa Red Diamonds.
Fluminense fans will probably fancy their chances of bagging some points against South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korean side Ulsan HD. South American teams will get at least $15.55mn for showing up, while qualification to the second round would bring an extra $7.5mn. That’s more than double the money on offer from winning the Brazilian league, and starts to look similar to the pay-off from victory in the Copa Libertadores — South America’s version of the Champions League.
For top European clubs, the money is decent to start with, but not transformative. Cash for participating equates to around 3.5 per cent of Real Madrid’s annual income, 5 per cent for Bayern Munich, and 7 per cent for Chelsea. A nice boost, but not massive.
Heftier sums come from making progress. Winning all three group stages and reaching the semi-final bags a top club more than $80mn.
For a club like Chelsea that could do with a financial sugar rush to help balance this year’s spending, the Club World Cup will be hugely welcome.
By backloading so much for winners, Fifa has also built in a serious financial incentive for actually lifting the Tiffany-designed Club World Cup. Competition should be fierce.
But it’s worth remembering this event (for now at least) will only take place once every four years. Only a tiny group of teams are virtually guaranteed to qualify again (Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain) — all of whom already feature in the top five richest clubs in the world.
So yes, there’s some trickle down economics at play. But ultimately, if the Club World Cup succeeds, the world’s wealthiest clubs will reap almost all the rewards. Plus ça change.