Club World Cup 2025 (Soccer)

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    FIFA Secures $1 Billion Broadcast Deal With DAZN for Club World Cup

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    An agreement with the London-based streaming company DAZN came just a day before the draw for the inaugural event and after other networks balked at FIFA’s demands.With time running out, and most broadcasters running away, FIFA said on Wednesday that it had finally managed to secure a broadcast partner for its inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States next year.The announcement of a global deal with the London-based streaming company DAZN came just a day before FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has championed the event, was set to preside over the draw for the monthlong tournament.While financial details of the agreement have not been announced publicly, DAZN is paying close to $1 billion, according to two people familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss financial matters. DAZN has also secured an option for future rights for the event. In recent weeks, FIFA told teams and other officials that it expected to raise $800 million in television rights fees, part of the roughly $2 billion it expected the event to generate, a figure most market professionals said was unrealistic.FIFA initially tried to secure a $1 billion global deal with Apple before the technology company walked away, believing FIFA’s demands, which had already halved in value from Mr. Infantino’s earlier estimates, were too high.DAZN, a sports media company owned by the Ukraine-born and Russia-raised British billionaire Len Blavatnik, has been growing its footprint in soccer. The company has secured prime rights for major leagues and competitions across Europe and beyond, though it has hemorrhaged considerable amounts of cash along the way. Mr. Blavatnik has invested more than $5 billion since starting DAZN in 2016, and has counted losses in the billions of dollars since then.The company has cycled through business strategies and chief executive officers. Most recently, it partnered with Saudi Arabia as the Gulf nation emerged as one of the biggest investors in global sports. DAZN has become the go-to destination for Saudi sports properties including tennis, boxing and domestic soccer, raising speculation that the partnership may soon lead to direct Saudi investment in DAZN as the country looks to build a sports network of its own. FIFA will award the 2034 men’s World Cup to Saudi Arabia next week.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.S. Will Host Club World Cup in 2025

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      A year before the World Cup comes to North America, an expanded soccer competition for the top global club teams will be contested in the United States.A year before 48 of the best men’s national soccer teams come to North America for the World Cup, 32 of the best club teams will arrive in the United States for the first edition of an expanded Club World Cup in 2025.The entrants will include the 12 top European teams based on their performances in the Champions League, including Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Clubs from the rest of the world will qualify from their various continental club championships.The Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer earned a berth by winning the 2022 Concacaf Champions League, and teams from Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere have already qualified, with more than half the field still to be determined.FIFA announced Friday that the United States would host the event. The cities where games will be held and the exact format of the tournament have not yet been disclosed. The event is expected to be held in June and July.FIFA has long dreamed of a world championship for club teams that might someday rival the big international team events it holds. At one point, a 24-team version of the event was announced for China but was scrapped, in part because of the pandemic.Under the current format, started in 2005, the Club World Cup has been held annually in the winter months, with seven teams — one per continent and one from the host country. The expanded event, proposed long ago but delayed several times, is expected to be held every four years.Despite the global field, European teams nearly always win the event, and with 12 of 32 entrants in the new format, they seem likely to continue to do so. This means that the Club World Cup could become essentially a spruced-up version of Europe’s Champions League. It would also add to the nearly year-round schedule of games for top players.In part for these reasons, the European governing body, UEFA, some top club teams and representatives for players have been at times less than enthusiastic about the expanded event.J.T. Batson, the chief executive of U.S. Soccer, said he was excited about the coming event.Besides the 12 European entrants, the 2025 event will include six teams from South America; four each from Asia, Africa and the North and Central America and Caribbean region; one from Oceania; and one from the host country, in this case the United States.The expanded Club World Cup will come one year before the 2026 World Cup, which will hold the bulk of its games, including the final, in the United States, with some games in Canada and Mexico. In 2024, the United States will host the Copa América, the championship for South American national teams. More