FootBiz newsletter #88: Club World Cup, PL finds new HQ, fears over AFCON

When it comes to football, you can always trust the South Americans to make it matter. From that point of view, they may be the only thing that can save Gianni Infantino’s bacon this month.

Long before it even occurred to FIFA that they must find a way to cash in on club brands, the old Intercontinental Cup was a simple competition that pitted the European Cup winner against that of the Copa Libertadores in a two-legged (often three-legged) tie that spanned an ocean.

No doubt you could find historical exceptions but, as a rule, this game always meant significantly more to the South Americans. It is a product of one of the most passionate footballing communities being somewhat geographically isolated, and enhanced by a bit of an inferiority complex that drives them to want to prove their worth against the sniffy elites of the old world.

Heading into this week’s group games, the feeling is the same. The only fanbases really bringing any energy at all so far have been those from South America (whether travelling for this tournament or as part of the US’ vast Latino diaspora) and most notably Boca Juniors taking over Miami. Botafogo’s support was vastly outnumbered by home fans in Seattle but their victory at least gives them a huge chance of making the knockout stages, and the feeling is that if there are to be any surprises in this competition that they could only be coming from sides who qualified via the Libertadores.

Still, according to the numbers we have looked at, the chance of a European team winning the tournament is around 97%. South America would have as much chance of correctly picking a number on a roulette wheel as getting past this parade of over-resourced European outfits, no matter how tired they are or how much they complain about the humidity.

While a handful of Brazilian teams and River Plate have a shot of making the last 16, beyond that the tournament is already looking a bit predictable.

And if we are being honest with ourselves the group stage of this Club World Cup was always going to be a bit of a drag. Too many of the match-ups are dreadfully one-sided (nearly 30% of the games have a favourite with 80%+ win probability) and Bayern’s 10-0 mauling of Auckland on the opening weekend was the most brutal reminder of that.

By comparison, in nearly a century of World Cup football there has never been a 10-goal win.

Where the competition might gain momentum and interest from neutrals is when the big clubs start clashing in the knockout phases. This, after all, was FIFA’s plan all along… just as it was when UEFA expanded their Champions League this season.

How do we get the biggest brands playing against each other more often?

It is the same rationale as the Super League, but executed by those who were appalled by the Super League. We just get some freak show mismatches thrown in.

This weekend I was in Paris before heading Stateside for the rest of the tournament so I figured there was little better to do on a Sunday evening than catch PSG vs Atletico Madrid in a bar. I just couldn’t find one with the game on.

Should that level of interest and energy be matched by Americans for the rest of the tournament then this will prove to be a competition played out to an awkwardly indifferent backdrop. In a digital age where engagement of any sort — good or bad — drives the algorithm, a complete lack of interest would be the worst possible scenario for FIFA.

As Jonathan Wilson put it, there is a fear as we get older that we have become grumpy and conservative: “Do I dislike this thing because it is shit, or do I think it is shit because it is new and I am old?”

It’s too early to label the Club World Cup shit, but it will need some people to start caring about it soon if it is to achieve its goals.

While the official attendance numbers have not been bad, the reality that we can see with our own eyes has.

This culminated in a game so sparsely attended last night that you could count the crowd yourself.

Let’s hope it picks up.

Table of Contents

• Club World Cupdate

• WSL confirms expansion

• Premier League settles on new HQ

• All that glitters is not Gold

• Bristol City bet on Struber

• Argyle hire Cleverley

• M&A Murmurs

• Drogheda turfed out over MCO rules

• Relegation drama in Italy

• DAZN to take over FIFA+ ops

• Correction

• PL viewing figures drop

• Textor files for IPO

Club World Cupdate

Beyond the immense revenue opportunities, a big reason for this tournament being played in the United States is an effective dry run for the biggest World Cup finals in history next summer.

This used to be the purpose of the Confederations Cup, a smaller competition that would allow a host nation to test out their venues and find the weaknesses. The US was also fortunate to have the Copa America there last summer, where it discovered a pretty significant weakness as the final was delayed by an hour due to crowd trouble, and this month will certainly stress test some of America’s soccer infrastructure in a way it hasn’t been before.

One issue that has arisen is that the stadia used for big football matches like these tend to ordinarily be NFL or college football. Those sports have a tailgating culture that, whether by luck of by judgement, encourages fans to arrive hours before kick-off and in a staggered manner. European and South American football tends to see the majority of fans entering in the hour before kick-off. With many of the stadiums being used at these tournaments not served by public transport, these traffic issues are likely to resurface next summer as well unless they can work out dedicated lanes or an incentive for fans to arrive early.

One premium subscriber of FootBiz got in touch to tell us about their (aborted) trip to watch Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl. After two hours in a queue of cars that was miles long, they abandoned ship, drove home in a fraction of the time it took to get close to the stadium and watched the second half from the sofa.

Veteran LA sports writer Arash Markazi was reporting on the same game and echoed those sentiments, saying: “I’ve been coming to the Rose Bowl for games my entire life. I can’t remember traffic and parking being more of a mess than it is today for the FIFA Club World Cup,” while Atletico Madrid complained about the heat and humidity.

Fans also complained they had no access to water in temperatures of 31 degrees celsius.

One fan told The Guardian of seeing supporters being forced to dispose of full water bottles before entering the ground, then of people in distress inside the venue and queues of 45+ minutes to get access to water that was for sale.

“There was no way to simply buy water,” said John Celmins, a resident of Santa Barbara, of the match which kicked off at midday in California. “You could go to a beer-only stand but there were no water stands and no extra water stations. There were long lines at every vendor and even at the drinking fountains.” 

Miami doesn’t sound like it was much better, with Hard Rock Stadium famously tricky to get away from after games due to effectively having one highway in and out. In a now-deleted post on X, a Club World Cup employee complained about the logistics getting to and from the home of the Miami Dolphins, which is inland of the city itself and only served by road. Uber prices were around 4-5x the price of those going to the match.

The Florida stadium is already under an enhanced spotlight after the shenanigans (above) at the Copa America final, where staff were ill-equipped for the concentration of fans that arrived and the night snowballed into disaster as fans broke into the stadium, kick-off was pushed back and many ticket-holders simply left without seeing action as they feared for their own safety.

On the other end of the scale, the Mamelodi Sundowns vs Ulsan Hyundai fixture in Orlando ensured the Club World Cup hit a new low in attendance.

Instinctively, we’ve not really been worried about World Cup attendances next summer but maybe we should?

Like this tournament, it’s a hugely expanded format which will also see games between fairly random opponents in far-flung cities. If Uzbekistan play North Macedonia in Kansas City are we really expecting the locals to turn up?

FIFA have been accused of undermining the fight against racism by dropping anti-discrimination messaging at the Club World Cup in an attempt to appease President Trump. 

It is customary for FIFA and UEFA to run anti-discrimination campaigns at their major tournaments, but none have appeared before in stadiums in the United States. 

Piara Powar, the executive director of football’s anti-discrimination body FARE, told The Times that FIFA have retreated from the campaigning space for fear of alienating Trump. The President is an outspoken critic of progressive movements, and has signed several executive orders dismantling equity, diversity and inclusion programmes since returning to the Oval Office in January. 

“It is quite clear to us that this is not happening — we have people at the tournament and we have noticed the absence of the messaging,” Powar said. “We know what we are up against with Donald Trump but what has been very disappointing is the way it has been dropped by Fifa without any acknowledgement or explanation of the political realities. They should be telling us the reasons.” 

The Athletic reported that promotional material for FIFA’s “no racism” and “no discrimination” campaigns were prepared for the Club World Cup, but not used. 

FIFA declined to explain the reason for the absence of anti-discrimination or confirm whether they would return for next year’s men’s World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada. 

WSL confirms expansion

As expected, the Women’s Super League has confirmed it will expand to 14 teams from the 2026/27 season.

Relegation will remain in place, but next season’s bottom-placed WSL side will only face the third-placed team in WSL2 in a playoff. They would be strong favourites to win the tie.

The top two clubs in WSL2 next year will gain automatic promotion to expand the top flight, and relegation will then revert to the existing one-up, one-down system.

Clubs had discussed banishing relegation altogether, a mechanism that its supporters believe would help shore up the somewhat rocky finances of some women’s football clubs. There was never any official proposal, however, and nor was it formally voted on.

Expanded, stricter licence criteria will still dictate whether teams can be promoted to WSL or WSL2 as Wolves and Blackburn recently discovered. 

With more teams, WSL clubs will play 26 matches instead of 22, but fitting those into an already packed calendar poses challenges.

Scheduling is tight due to new competitions like the Women’s Club World Cup (from 2028), the Women’s Champions Cup (from 2026), and an expanded 48-team Women’s World Cup (from 2031). The Women’s Champions League semi-finals also occupy weekends, and WSL games need to avoid clashing with Women’s FA Cup fixtures.

Player welfare rules further limit dates — including post-tournament breaks, winter rest, and caps on midweek matches. Clubs also face logistical issues, such as stadium-sharing conflicts like Arsenal experienced in November. Arsenal women plan on playing all their home games at the Emirates this season.

Coordination between FIFA, UEFA, the FA, and the Premier League is ongoing but complicated by competing interests. Broadcasting demands add to the strain, with low-attendance time slots like Saturday 18:45 on Sky Sports potentially being scrapped.

Premier League settles on new HQ

The Premier League have settled on the location of their new production headquarters as they prepare to take their media and content business in-house, signing a 20-year lease on an enormous 70,000 sq ft space at Kensington Olympia.

In a move that will please talent that has long complained about the trek to Premier League Productions’ studios at IMG HQ out by Heathrow Airport, the new west London location will house the league’s new Premier League Studios (PLS) business from 2026/27.

PLS will be responsible for all international media content production and distribution, taking over from long-time partner IMG.

The league has a year to prepare for its new world and recently hired Andy Beale, formerly head of innovation at BT Sport, as its new head of technology.

All that glitters is not Gold

When the Club World Cup was somewhat agriculturally shoved into the global football schedule there were always going to be victims.

One of the least-discussed victims of Gianni Infantino’s global jamboree is the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which has been rendered almost irrelevant by FIFA’s choice to host their competition in the same country at the same time. FIFA’s need for this tournament to succeed, for it to become embedded in global soccer’s culture and landscape, has necessitated a huge marketing push. The Athletic reported this week that FIFA spent $50m on marketing after disappointing ticket sales.

Anything the Gold Cup could even have attempted to achieve relevance with a budget a fraction of that size has instead been drowned out by a confederation that should be helping them. The Gold Cup is the sacrificial lamb, and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, won’t even open the upper tiers for this weekend’s USMNT game.

While CONCACAF took the logistical decision to play their continental tournament almost entirely on the west coast of the United States, FIFA have spread themselves across the nation.

Most significantly, though, FIFA has also effectively called first dibs on players, with 12 names who appeared on the initial Gold Cup lists instead appearing at the CWC.

This might not seem like a big issue, especially when a number of the top USMNT players (most notably Christian Pulisic) are also absent.

And while Pulisic deciding he simply didn’t fancy playing has not gone down well with Mauricio Pochettino’s staff with just 12 months until a World Cup on home soil, the far greater knock-on effect of devaluing the Gold Cup may end up affecting other continents quite deeply.

The most obvious risk comes for the African Cup of Nations, a tournament that top European clubs have long grumbled about as they are forced to release players in mid-season.

With none other than FIFA setting the example of club football taking precedence over a continental championship at international level, will we see more resistance to the upcoming AFCON?

Come December, this may be a far bigger talking point.

Bristol City bet on Struber

Bristol City are hiring Gerhard Struber to replace Liam Manning.

The Robins managed to finish fifth in the Championship last year, but were comprehensively beaten in the playoffs. Aiming to reach the Premier League for the first time in their history, City turned to the former Red Bull Salzburg and NY Red Bulls coach after Manning returned to his native Norfolk to take over at Norwich City.

While the Bristol club boasts great training facilities and a renovated stadium, one of Manning’s gripes was that the club would not spend the amount needed to improve the squad for a solid promotion push.

Owner Steve Lansdown confirmed in May that the club wouldn’t ‘chase the dream’ by overspending.

"You can only spend what you've got and you can't just keep on chasing the dream and throwing money at it," Lansdown said.

"We've already been down that road and it didn't work, and I think if you look at all our times we've been successful what we've done is built a team.”

Argyle hire Cleverley

Plymouth Argyle have settled on Tom Cleverley as the guy to take them back to the Championship.

The Greens were relegated last season after Wayne Rooney’s disastrous reign left them with too much to do. Miron Muslic, formerly of Cercle Brugge, came in and got more juice out of the team but ultimately failed to keep them up.

Muslic then surprised the club by jumping ship to Schalke when he had committed his future to the Pilgrims, forcing Argyle into a fourth coaching appointment in just over a year.

"When we spoke to [Cleverley] he was completely aligned with the vision and ambitions of the club and it was clear throughout that Tom was the right fit for us,” said Argyle owner Simon Hallett.

"He is young, passionate and did a great job at Watford. We are thrilled to bring him to Argyle and look forward to seeing the impact he has on the talented squad at his disposal."

Cleverley was sacked by Watford after missing out on the playoffs, a move that many Hornets fans felt was unfair. It was, however, fairly in-keeping with Gino Pozzo’s reign at Vicarage Road. The Italian is still seeking a buyer for the Hertfordshire club but is sticking to a fairly high valuation.

M&A Murmurs

Sticking with Argyle, The Telegraph reports that Gareth Bale could be the frontman for an American group looking to buy the club.

Owner Simon Hallett was close to selling a minority stake in the club last season which would have given the new investors a path to control, but as things dragged on the deal fell apart.

Bale is thought to be worth hundreds of millions after a glittering career at Real Madrid, where he became one of Britain’s most gilded footballers.

Burnley owner ALK Capital is deep in talks to buy La Liga side Espanyol.

In an intriguing deal between two yo-yo clubs, it would be interesting to see how Alan Pace and his team approach the partnership and which (if any) club would be the more senior partner.

The Barcelona-based club has been on the market for a while but (stop me if you’ve heard this one before) had a sky-high valuation owing to its location, good-quality stadium and improved financial situation in recent seasons.

Investors have been increasingly looking to the Spanish second tier to find value amid inflated valuations. Spain’s financial rules have been some of the most successful in Europe.

Whispers are that Ronaldo’s much-heralded sale of Real Valladolid could be in trouble.

The new ownership group was never ratified by the board despite announcement of a deal in principle nearly a month ago. Local reports suggest the Ignite group are still to be seen in Valladolid itself.

Fenway Sports Group’s search for a club to feed Liverpool has most recently landed on Getafe, according to The Times.

Based in an anonymous suburb of Madrid, Getafe are a bit of an unloved cousin in the Spanish capital and owner Angel Torres has had the club on the market for a while now as he seeks to cash in on the top-flight stability and new stadium that he has overseen.

FSG have looked at clubs across Europe, engaging in conversations around Malaga, Toulouse and Bordeaux at different times but not pouncing on any. CEO of Football, Michael Edwards, is leading the search.

Drogheda turfed out over MCO rules

Drogheda United were ejected from the Conference League by UEFA due to Multi-Club Ownership (MCO) rules.

While people have been quick to draw comparisons to the Crystal Palace situation, Drogheda are a much more simple case. The US-based Trivela Group owns both Drogheda and Danish club Silkeborg, and the two Trivela clubs both managed to win their respective domestic cup competitions last season.

And while Trivela didn’t buy Silkeborg until after Drogheda’s cup win, the rules apply to the 2025/26 competition and ownership with decisive influence over multiple teams is not allowed.

While the League of Ireland outfit will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, it is considered unlikely that they will be restored to UEFA’s third-tier club competition.

Relegation drama in Italy

Another stroke of luck for Sampdoria as they look to escape a shock relegation to Italy’s third tier.

Salernitana have asked for the postponement of their relegation play-off second leg against the Genoa club after a severe outbreak of food poisoning affected players and staff.

The club submitted an official request to the league after 21 members of the squad and backroom team fell ill on the return flight from Genoa, where they had suffered a 2-0 defeat in the first leg on Sunday.

Facing the threat of a second consecutive relegation, just a year after dropping out of Serie A, Salernitana currently have no fit players to train for the second leg and have called for an investigation into the "causes of this widespread and serious episode".

Sampdoria were relegated on the final day of the Serie B season only for Brescia to be deducted points for breaking financial rules after the campaign had concluded, sending Brescia to the third tier (and out of business entirely) and Sampdoria to the relegation playoff.

DAZN to take over FIFA+ ops

FIFA+, the streaming service that world football’s governing body had long seen as a big part of their media strategy, will now be operated by DAZN as part of FIFA’s marriage of convenience with the London-based streamer.

Subscriptions never really picked up for FIFA+, which sought out a number of content partnerships to leverage its immense archive but struggled to gain traction.

With its pre-existing reach and tightening relationship with FIFA, DAZN was a natural place to incorporate the FIFA+ service and the move was announced as the Club World Cup kicked off in the US — broadcast globally by DAZN.

The most interesting nugget in the press release suggests a sort of Sky Sports News/Sports Center product arriving on DAZN before next season starts.

“Following the tournament, a continuous, exclusive news service, ensuring fans stay connected to all the latest football action and stories from across the globe, will be launched setting a new benchmark in global football coverage.”

Correction

We said last week that Real Madrid would have three new signings in time for the Club World Cup, but they only managed two.

Madrid are refusing to pay Alvaro Carreras’ fee in full, proposing a lower amount in instalments, and so Benfica did not part with the Spanish full-back before last week’s mini-window deadline.

Carreras is still expected to join the Spanish giants this summer but will be playing for Benfica in the States. Manchester United are due nearly €10m of the eventual fee as a sell-on.

PL viewing figures drop

The Premier League’s fears of reduced interest in last season’s competition given Liverpool’s stroll to the title and the non-existent relegation were realised with TV audiences dropping significantly in the UK.

As reported by The Times, Sky Sports’ viewing figures dropped 10 per cent last season, while TNT Sports’ Saturday lunchtime audience was down 5 per cent drop and their two midweek rounds dropped 17 per cent. All figures were broadly in line with those recorded in the 2021/22 season following two years of growth. 

The decline is a concern for both broadcasters and the Premier League, particularly as next season will see a huge increase in the number of live matches available in start of a new four-year domestic TV deal. Sky Sports will show at least 215 top-flight matches live, up from 128, an increase they have begun promoting heavily on all their channels, while TNT Sports will retain 52 games.

The extent of the demand for an extra 90 live games will be fascinating to discover amidst fears that the Premier League is reaching saturation point. While most observers believe that the lack of a genuine title race was a one-off, there is concern at the Premier League club about the relegation situation after the three promoted clubs went straight back down for the second successive season.  

Whether the existing top-flight clubs are willing to alter Premier League regulations to help make newcomers more competitive – by increasing their PSR allowance for example – remains to be seen. 

Textor files for IPO

The Crystal Palace ownership saga has taken another twist with the club’s largest shareholder, John ­Textor, listing his holding company Eagle Football for an initial public offering in the US.

Textor’s multi-club operation, which also owns majority shares in Lyon and Botafogo, has submitted a draft registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Eagle have made confidential S-1 filing, with neither the volume nor prices of the shares to be listed made public. A confidential filing is no guarantee of a public one.

Textor first announced plans for an Eagle IPO, which would be the first conducted by a multi-club football group, with a company valuation of $2bn (£1.47bn) last November, but the timing of the listing is curious given his involvement in sale talks at Palace with three interested parties.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that the Eagle IPO is related to Textor’s need to raise funding for Lyon, who have been provisionally relegated by French football’s financial watchdog, DNCG, as a result of their large debts. Textor is due to have a personal hearing next week to plead Lyon’s case for reinstatement to Ligue 1 while the DNCG continue to audit the club’s accounts.