Beyond the apathy: the Manchester City and Chelsea fans off to the Club World Cup
The Club World Cup, it is fair to say, has not captured the imaginations of domestic Manchester City and Chelsea supporters. Very few are talking about the tournament and, it appears, only true diehards will make the trip to the USA for the month-long end-of-season endurance test.
Fifa slashed the prices of match tickets after poor uptake from fans and the UK broadcaster showing the tournament will be Channel 5, the home of World Seniors Snooker. Meanwhile, many, if indeed not most, players taking part are not overly enamoured by the prospect of losing five weeks of time off to recover from another gruelling campaign.
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'Fifa can forget it, footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament,' Carlo Ancelotti, the former Real Madrid head coach, said last year before backtracking on those comments. Money clearly talks and the prospect of securing a winning prize of £97m makes it an enticing prospect for those invited to take part.
Related: David Squires on … Infantino's Club World Cup buildup in the land of Trump
Despite the damp buildup, some UK-based fans of City and Chelsea will be travelling across the Atlantic in order to see their team play. Many of the hardcore are, however, staying away. Anyone wanting to attend has to consider expenditure on flights, hotels, food and match tickets, none of which come cheap. And anyone wanting to see each of their team's matcheswould need to be in the US for a minimum of 10 days.
'There's a lot of apathy about it among fans,' says Paul Seery who is travelling to the Club World Cup to watch City and will also take in Boca Juniors v Auckland City in order to fulfil a lifelong ambition of seeing the Argentinian club in the flesh. 'If you go on [City fans' forum] Blue Moon and look at the thread, there's some that are dead against it saying: 'I'm not watching it.' But I'm sure if we get to the final, they'll be standing in front of the telly. I am 65 this year and it's my last chance to do something like this.'
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The teams that reach the Club World Cup final on 13 July, a little more than a month before the start of the Premier League season, will contest seven matches in the US. City, for example, will play group matches against Wydad Casablanca, Al Ain and Juventus in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Orlando respectively before potentially heading for knockout ties in Miami and New York, requiring more than 2,000 miles to be covered. Meanwhile, the most affordable tickets for the final are currently retailing at $611 while the very best seats are going for $4,348. Fifa originally wanted to charge $890 for the cheapest final ticket but relented.
'I think Fifa shot themselves in the foot because the prices were so ridiculously high,' says Chelsea supporter Chris Rayburn, who will be travelling to the US to watch the Uefa Conference League winners and expects the trip to cost him up to £6,000. 'To be sure of getting a ticket, you had to pay up front. Initially if you wanted to do the whole tournament you would have had to fork out £1,600 to buy your tickets. I think we would have brought a lot more supporters had the tickets been reasonably priced. I think my tickets probably came to between £800 and £900 in total for seven games.'
Olivier Giroud's LAFC, Flamengo and ES Tunis stand between Chelsea and the knockout stages, and the prospect of facing Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in a competitive game make it an intriguing tournament for those supporters willing to do the miles. There is also the prospect of some great sightseeing in between travelling between cities.
'I've seen us win two Champions Leagues, Europa Leagues, Cup Winners' Cups and the Club World Cup a couple of years ago and now the Europa Conference League – I've been to all of them,' says Rayburn. 'I've been to all the FA Cups and League Cup successes. So yes, I'd be a bit gutted if you ended up winning a Club World Cup competition and not being there.'
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For all the flaws and criticism of the Club World Cup, its expanded version is innovative. 'No one was interested in the first World Cup but nearly 100 years on, everybody remembers who won the first World Cup and where it was. I'm hoping the Club World Cup's going to be exactly the same,' says Seery, who is take two weeks of unpaid leave in order to fulfil his trip. 'I'm sure it will.'
It is becoming increasingly expensive for supporters to follow their teams and sometimes it goes against common sense to do so. But then again, love – and the hope of glory – makes people do crazy things.
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