Nearly two months after FIFA chose the U.S. to host the 2025 Club World Cup, the American cities slated to host the following year’s national team World Cup remain in the dark about what role they are expected to play in the expanded club tournament.
Nearly two months after FIFA chose the U.S. to host the 2025 Club World Cup, the American cities slated to host the following year’s national team World Cup remain in the dark about what role, if any, they are expected to play in the expanded club tournament. It’s just the latest point of frustration for 2026 local organizers, who have been complaining for months about FIFA’s communication and slower-than-expected progress in preparing for the massive event.
In a written statement to SBJ, FIFA said details for the 2025 Club World Cup “are being developed and will be announced in due course, including potential host cities, venues, and fan and commercial elements of the competition.” The governing body added that it is “engaging with the relevant stakeholders to finalize the details, including the match schedule of this new tournament.” It did not specify whether those stakeholders include the 2026 host cities.
The second possibility is that FIFA would want to take the Club World Cup to more non-World Cup host cities to expand its commercial footprint and gain more flexibility in terms of which companies it can bring on as backers for the Club World Cup, including non-World Cup sponsors. The expanded Club World Cup is a key priority for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who has projected the expanded event in 2025 could generate “a couple billion” dollars. He believes it’s important for FIFA to grow its role in the club soccer landscape. While FIFA’s World Cup is far and away the most prestigious title in national team soccer, FIFA’s Club World Cup, which was founded in 2000, hasn’t achieved the same status on the club side.
The program allows each of the 16 host cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada to sign 10 companies as supporters, each of whom will be allowed to use specific host city branding separate from FIFA’s primary marks and logos for the event. Companies will be allowed to support up to two different host cities.
Premium seating is another point of frustration for some host cities, sources said. Some venues have sold all-inclusive suites or club tickets that pre-date the World Cup, but FIFA controls the entire stadium. There’s been little word on how that will get sorted out, and the stakes are massive. If FIFA requires host committees to buy back those assets at full retail value, it could severely undermine the local hosts’ economic model, sources said.
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