The British media has historically gone out of its way to deride the CWC. Especially publications aimed at “Little Britain”. The rest of the European media hasn’t been quite so hostile. Certainly not the German and Spanish media that I consume. The CWC is highly regarded in many places. For example, the estimated 30 million fans of “Al Kebab” think it’s a big deal.
Most recently? USD 16.5M in total for seven matches. Winner gets 5M. Also, USD 50M are not yet confirmed for 2025: https://www.sounderatheart.com/2024/06/sounders-club-world-cup-host-payout/ It always sounded a bit high to me.
I’ve attended five CWC tournaments in the UAE over the years. The Libertadores winners had about 15K travelling support every time. In late December in the pre-Christmas period. Apparently Corinthians had up to 30K traveling fans in Yokohama when they beat Chelsea.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but LAFC was generally considered one of the favorites going into 2023 (bubble or not, that incredible 2020 run left an impression).
Let's be honest. CWC might be a big deal for the rest of the world (including us) but for the top European soccer nations it isn't. The Champions League is way more competitive than anything CWC can offer. The UCL is the real CWC. It just so happens that in the CWC for the rest of us we can see the rest of the world go up against the best clubs in the world. That's why it matters to the rest of us but not so much for Europe. True. Tigres and LAFC were the favorites based on how they were drawn in the bracket. Still remember reading on social media fans saying CONCACAF set them up like that to help MLS. Lol These people are clueless that it is a draw.
Didn't you know that everything is a conspiracy? I heard it on social media. Tim Berners-Lee has a lot to answer for.
Ahem... speaking of conspiracies Columbus Crew food poisoning: Was something nefarious at work in Champions Cup loss? https://t.co/JiQExyM7eq— Columbus Dispatch (@DispatchAlerts) June 4, 2024 (if true... then we can lay the "[insert team/league] doesn't care about CCL/Champions Cup" argument to rest )
Most the the team and all the staff became ill after eating a meal on Thursday evening. Meal was prepared by the hotel with the direction of the Crew training staff.
If it's anything like what happened to our MNT the last time we visited Mexico for WCQ, the Crew probably ate salad that had been rinsed with tap water.
Maybe that episode gained less traction because their stomach bug resulted in the biggest rout in favor of USA during 2022 WC qualifiers. Drew 0-0 at Azteca stadium, multiple staff and players fell ill upon their return to Orlando, beat PAN 5-1 (4-0 at the half). All in less than 72 hours. Different vague numbers of ill players were floated. However, like in other cases of football squads suffering food poisoning, not all players got sick. According to Arriola, the team became ill when they returned to the US. https://www.90min.com/posts/paul-arriola-usmnt-challenging-world-cup-qualifying-cycle
Imagine what USMNT could have done without that stomach bug I still do not buy Columbus' excuse though. No specific details on how many became ill, nor which players. It might be the case that Pachuca did its homework, before hosting both Philadelphia and Columbus at high altitude.
I know this is a bad idea, but please forgive me... I've been watching this team quite a bit, and more importantly, I watched them closely when they beat Tigres and dismantled Rayados. You can't strategize your way to your opponent being markedly more lethargic and unwilling to press as easily as you make it seem. Everything was off. The lines of pressure were completely disconnected. There were mental mistakes and other mistakes that looked like fatigue mistakes LONG before altitude gets to a standard team. Not knowing what was going on at the time, it seemed massively out of character and almost impossible. I kept passing it off as altitude related, because they are the SORT of mistakes that happen when you're sucking air and not thinking right. It started about 30 minutes too early or more.
🚨 Carlo Ancelotti: “Real Madrid will NOT go to the FIFA World Club, we will reject the invitation like other clubs”.“Just one single Real Madrid match is worth €20m and they want to give us that money for the whole competition… no way. Negative”, told Il Giornale. pic.twitter.com/MaOELzETF5— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 10, 2024 Looks like the European teams might not play in the Club World Cup. Players are threatening to sue and now the first team has announced they will turn down the invitation.
How much do they get from UEFA for participating in the Champions League? https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soc...own-ucl-winners-uefa/6e9cd9ee671ddd07fc6507ff So for winning the CL Real Madrid got $21.5M. According to this: https://onefootball.com/en/news/202...money-and-what-milan-need-to-qualify-38539605 Teams will get €50M just for showing up...... and somewhere in the neighborhood of €100M if they win the tourney.... That's a lot of money to help fight off FFP regulations....
Yes! Ancelloti doesn't run the club so its not really his call. 🚨 BREAKING: Real Madrid will regularly play the FIFA Clubs’ World Cup, club has confirmed.“It was never in doubt, we will be part of the World Cup and we’re proud to compete to win the trophy for our fans”. pic.twitter.com/76u0OB7Gwp— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 10, 2024
"Real Madrid's triumph in Paris in 2022 saw the club earning a total of 133.7 million euros. Liverpool, the runners-up, took home 119.9 million euros. Semi-finalists Bayern Munich and Manchester City received 109.6 million euros and 108.7 million euros respectively." (Marca) That excludes little things like matchday revenue. They averaged around 60,000 at their temporary stadium.