Chelsea and Manchester City could earn a whopping £97m from this summer’s revamped Club World Cup.
Previously an annual tournament contested by seven teams, the updated competition will now feature 32 clubs and take place once every four years, with this year’s tournament set for the United States between June 15 and July 13.
Teams from each of the six international football confederations will be competing – Asia (AFC), Africa (Caf), North and Central America (Concacaf), South America (Conmebol), Oceania (OFC) and Europe (Uefa) – with City and Chelsea two of the 12 European teams thanks to their Champions League wins in 2023 and 2021 respectively.
Liverpool would have been included as a result of reaching the 2022 Champions League final but only two teams can qualify per country.
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Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg are the other European sides in the competition having qualified through a Uefa ranking system determined by clubs’ performances over the four seasons.
The overall prize fund will be £775m, with £407m divided between all participating clubs and £368m awarded on a performance-related basis.
A group-stage win will net a team £1.5m, with £5.8m for reaching the last 16, £10.2m for reaching the quarter-finals, £16.3m for reaching the semi-finals, and £31m for winning the final.
The big European sides like Chelsea, City, Real Madrid and Bayern are key to the success of the tournament and have negotiated substantial revenue to be part of it, with money awarded for participation weighted on both sporting and commercial criteria.
The quartet should all earn a minimum of £40m if they progress from the group stage and can earn up to £97m for lifting the trophy.
Not all clubs are equal with smaller sides like RB Salzburg only set to receive around £15m if they qualify from the group, a similar fee to what South American clubs like Boca Juniors or River Plate can expect, while teams in North America, Asia, Africa will get even less.
Whatever happens in the actual football this now looks like a very worthwhile competition to be involved in, with both Chelsea and Manchester City set for huge windfalls in their bid to avoid profit and sustainability sanctions, as the tournament also looks set to further distort competition in smaller leagues as those already reaping the rewards of European football will gain a further financial advantage to increase their domestic dominance.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has insisted the Club World Cup has been expanded in a bid to grow the game beyond Europe and distribute money to clubs outside the traditional elite, but the top clubs will if anything pull further away having leveraged their importance in talks to land more money simply by turning up.
