Infantino evokes tournaments as “the most successful competition in the world”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino praised the Club World Cup as “the most successful competition in the world” despite widespread criticism of the tournament.

Infantino, who has led the governing body of World Football since 2016, claims that the newly expanded summer competition has led to revenues exceeding $2 billion (£1.5 billion).

As a result, Infantino said, he added that it was a “great success” and that “the golden age of global club football has begun.”

The new 32-team tournament in the US has attracted a lot of criticism, with former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp lamenting “the worst idea put into action in football.”

While many criticize the lack of strength in the game and compare them to glorious preseason friendly matches, teams have had to compete against extreme weather conditions and poor quality pitches. The usual vacancies in the game were also a critical point for the tournament.

But speaking at Trump Tower in New York on the eve of Sunday’s final between Chelsea and Paris St. German (20:00 BST) he said, “The golden age of global club football has begun.

“I can definitely say that this FIFA club’s World Cup was a big, big, huge success. Of course there are a lot of positive, some negatives.

“We respect the opinions of everyone. We are successful. We have over 2.5 million people in the stadium. That’s about 40,000 spectators per game. Of course, there are no leagues in that number of world, except for the home team and the Premier League, where these are neutral stadiums.

“We’ve heard we’re not going to do well financially, but we can say we’ve generated more than $2 billion in revenue from this competition. We averaged $33 million per game. There’s no other Cup competition in the world, close to $33 million per game.

“It’s already the most successful club competition in the world, with all the different measurements.”

World Cup 2026: Cover Stadium to Use

New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium will host its final on Sunday, with temperatures reaching 38C recently.

Infantino admits extreme temperatures are “unquestionably a problem” after Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez asked FIFA to do more to protect players’ welfare, and says the stadium is likely to be covered next summer’s World Cup day.

“Of course, fever is definitely a problem,” Infantino said. “It’s a matter of the world. I remember it was the same at the Olympics in Paris and other football matches.

“The conditions require cooling to rest, water the pitch and see how things go well.

“But there are stadiums covered in the US, and Vancouver covered in Canada. We will use more of these stadiums during the day.”