With the first-ever 32-team FIFA Club World Cup that has kicked off the summer, FIFA has positioned the tournament as a historic opportunity to push soccer into the American sports mainstream — and reshape the global club landscape for years to come.
The monthlong tournament kicked off June 14, 2025, in Miami with Inter Miami CF taking on Egypt’s Al Ahly FC. The final will be held July 13 in New York/New Jersey, where the first official FIFA club world champion will be crowned.
“We are making history here, football history,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an interview with DAZN. “A new era of football, a new competition for club football with clubs from all over the world. It’s fantastic.”
FIFA aims to use the tournament to elevate soccer’s profile in the U.S., where it has long competed for attention alongside the NFL, NBA and MLB.
With the men’s FIFA World Cup also coming to North America in 2026, the two events reflect a yearlong push to make soccer a more prominent part of American sports culture.
“One of our objectives with the Club World Cup and then the World Cup next year… is to project football or soccer at the top of the landscape here and make it really one of the top, top sports,” Infantino said. “It is the number one sport in the world already. It has to become one of the top sports as well in such a great country as the United States.”
The Club World Cup, which has expanded from seven to 32 teams, reflects FIFA’s broader goal of creating more opportunities for clubs outside of Europe and South America.
While elite clubs have long dominated the global stage, FIFA aims to level the playing field by giving more clubs from around the world a chance to compete at the highest level.
“Football has to be global,” Infantino said. “So, we need to give opportunities to clubs from other parts of the world to compete with the best, and then the field will say which one is really the best.”
The tournament also introduces new technology, including referee body cameras that will provide a closer view of in-game moments and player reactions.
The tech was designed to bring fans closer to the action, allowing fans to be on the pitch with the players, seeing their reactions and even actions of a goal.
“This brings in a different emotion for those who would maybe like to be here but they’re too far away and cannot be in the stadium; they can live it as if they were, not just in the stadium, but on the pitch,” Infantino said.
The real goal FIFA hopes fans will see is that this Club World Cup legacy lasts far beyond the final match. However, Infantino is beyond excited for what the tournament has in store, with new technology and an expanded roster of teams there is a promise of surprises and unforgettable moments.
“There will be surprises,” Infantino said. “You know it for a fact. Football is the most unpredictable sport. And let’s see who will be the world champion — and the one who will be called the world champion for the next four years. That’s quite an honor.”
