Club World Cup exposes growing gap in global football
The matches have, for the most part, lacked intensity and quality, and the imbalance in standards is evident.
The FIFA Club World Cup trophy on display in Dortmund, Germany, 20 April 2025. EPA/CHRISTOPHER NEUNDORF CONDITIONS – ATTENTION: The DFL regulations prohibit any use of photographs as image sequences and/or quasi-video.
The idea to expand the FIFA Club World Cup to 32 teams may have been noble, but the early signs suggest the tournament is doing little to enhance football's status as a global spectacle.
With 32 teams now involved, the competition has taken on the feel of the Olympic Games. It is more about participation than genuine competitiveness.
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While the idea of giving clubs from less prominent footballing nations a shot on the world stage is commendable, the reality has exposed the huge gap between football's elite and the rest of the world.
The tournament was meant to promote inclusion and global growth, but it has instead laid bare the glaring inequalities.
So far, the quality of football has also been underwhelming and for purists of the game, this is disappointing. Bayern Munich's 10-0 demolition of Auckland City was not only humiliating but a brutal reminder of the gulf in class.
That kind of scoreline should not exist at a world cup level. The matches have, for the most part, lacked intensity and quality, and the imbalance in standards is evident.
Even as someone who expected mismatches, Bayern's dismantling of Auckland felt excessive. It was more like a pre-season friendly than a world championship encounter.
FIFA's ambitions to grow the game in America ahead of the 2026 World Cup are also being tested. Attendance so far has been poor, and if this is meant to be a dress rehearsal, there's still much work to do.
That said, there's still hope that the knockout stages will deliver more drama and competitiveness. That's where we might finally get high-level football this tournament is supposed to showcase.
It would be refreshing to see a smaller club make a deep run into the latter part of the competition, but realistically, I think the heavyweights will dominate.
Until then, this edition feels less like a festival of champions and more like a reminder of the game's uneven playing field.
ALSO READ: Sundowns' Modiba anticipates a tough test from Ulsan in CWC opener
The tournament has so far resembled a soft launch rather than the blockbuster spectacle it was billed to be. There's little evidence that it has truly captured the imagination of football fans around the globe.
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