Daily Archives: June 12, 2025

Watch Messi for $4 at Club World Cup? FIFA offering drastic discounts to opening game

Leave a reply

“FIFA’s latest attempts to fill Hard Rock Stadium for the Club World Cup opening match between Inter Miami and Egyptian team Al-Ahly involve offering students at an affiliated local college a single ticket for $20 — but with the promise of up to four complimentary tickets. The Athletic last week revealed the launch game, which takes place on Saturday night, still had tens of thousands of tickets unsold for a match likely to star Lionel Messi for MLS side Inter Miami. Hard Rock Stadium has a capacity of 65,326. FIFA denied that fewer than 20,000 tickets had been sold for the match — insisting the number was ‘much higher’ — but they did not specify the number. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

DAZN will broadcast the Club World Cup around the world. What is the streamer’s big idea?

Leave a reply

“Six months before the planned start of the Club World Cup came word that FIFA had finally found the grease to make its new wheels turn. A global broadcast partner had been secured and in its hands was the billion dollars that could be repurposed as a prize pot to demand the attention of the 32 competing teams. FIFA called it a ‘landmark agreement’, the first of its kind. All 63 games in its expanded now-summer club competition would be made available free, with the body’s president Gianni Infantino calling it the ‘most widely accessible club football tournament ever’. The partner selected to make it all happen, though, raised eyebrows. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Guardian – Uncontested: Dazn’s $1bn story reveals why the Club World Cup is really here

WorldCup2026, one year to go: What still needs to be sorted?

Leave a reply


“The men’s World Cup is one year away and 13 nations — including its host countries the United States, Canada and Mexico — have secured their places in the expanded 48-team competition. Some 75 per cent of the matches will be played in the U.S., across 11 cities. Mexico will host the opening matchday in Mexico City and Guadalajara, but the involvement of Canada and Mexico will cease after the round of 16, with all games from the quarter-finals onwards to be played in the States, including the final at MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey, a short distance from New York City. … As the clock ticks down, The Athletic details just some of the most pressing challenges, reputational risks and supporter concerns about the United States’ portion of the competition, which will encompass 78 of the 104 games that will be played between June 11 and July 19 next year. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic – World Cup 2026: Who’s qualified, who’s struggling and which underdogs have a shot at glory?

The National Guard was brought in after protests in Los Angeles