Is FIFA’s Club World Cup flopping? Empty seats raise questions

FIFA has recently announced that the Club World Cup has sold close to 1.5 million tickets so far for the games. Spectators, however, are starting to notice that numerous stadiums had empty seats in some of the matches. 

This issue sparked a conversation on Reddit as one user asked if the Club World Cup is becoming a flop. The user wondered whether the competition is a ‘good idea’, given the half-empty stadiums and lack of fan interest — or if it might actually be ‘bad publicity’ for football.

The user said,  “The Club World Cup may flop… Is soccer even popular in North America? The Club World Cup is compounded by political controversies surrounding the event. It seems disengaged audiences will diminish the competition’s global appeal, failing to capture the excitement of football fans around the world and FIFA slashing Club World Cup ticket prices and offering free tickets to students and city workers due to low demand, just aiming at filling stadiums for tournaments, especially for television broadcasting.” 

Other Redditors commented on the post and expressed their opinions about this subject matter. One stated that the event should not have taken place in the United States, saying, “America should not be hosting any football competitions. It would get more support if a South American country, a European country or even an African country. Americans aren’t interested in football, and fans certainly don’t want to travel to Trump’s America. Too risky” 

Another commented about the location of the event. “America is not exactly a top travel destination for foreigners anymore. Especially not from South America… Even if you aren’t an immigrant, it’s not exactly a safe travel destination.” 

Some commenters chimed in with their thoughts. One wrote, “It’s going to flop because it’s another competition that nobody asked for. The previous format made it a lot more prestigious, but people are finally getting tired of FIFA’s greed ruining the sport… It’s no different to a preseason tour. Nobody cares about the results, and most of the fans are neutral.” Another added, “I must say that I like the idea of a club World Cup but 32 teams is too many and the timing sucks.”

Another Redditor argued that the Club World Cup won’t flop—not because of sporting merit, but due to its financial appeal. “It won’t flop because you’ve misjudged what it’s designed to do. It’s not designed to bring together the world’s best teams. It’s not designed to decide the best team in the world. It’s not designed to bring a love of football to the USA. It’s not designed to help America figure out how to run big sporting events,” they wrote.

They added, “Teams are taking part because there’s a load of money in it. It might, potentially, knacker their pre-season preparations, but these clubs exist to make money rather than win trophies; winning trophies is simply a way of making money.”

Despite these, FIFA declared that fans from over 130 countries have purchased Club World Cup tickets, and they are expecting more than 50,000 fans to attend the next couple of matches as the Cup continues.