News on ticket sales for the Club World Cup in the USA, which starts in the summer, as ticket sales for the event are sluggish, to put it mildly. The tickets are literally lying on the shelves and there are two main reasons for this:
- The tickets are too expensive
- The USA is not necessarily one of the most popular countries at the moment
FIFA had no choice but to drastically reduce the ticket prices for the 2025 Club World Cup, as the 63 matches of the much-hyped tournament should not be played in front of empty stands under any circumstances. This experience has already been gained at the World Cup in Qatar and FIFA would like to avoid it.
Why are the ticket prices for the Club World Cup being reduced?
Media source The Athletic recently reported that just 20,000 of the 45,000 tickets available for the opening match between Inter Miami and Al Ahly at Miami Gardens on 14 June, for example, were sold. Although these figures have not been officially confirmed by FIFA, there has been no denial, which basically speaks in favour of the accuracy of the sales figures.
The opening match in particular should take place in front of a sell-out crowd, because if this match with the participation of a US team is not well received and the television pictures of the opening show go around the world with few spectators, this will damage the image of the Club World Cup, which is already being heavily criticised.
And the question arises as to how low the demand for tickets is for other games in which no US teams are competing. For example, there is the football match between River Plate and the Urawa Red Diamonds on 17 June in Seattle. Such matches are not necessarily a magnet for spectators, which is probably one of the reasons why FIFA is now having to forgo massive amounts of money by selling tickets for the 2025 Club World Cup at a significantly lower price.
The Club World Cup 2025 has an image problem because of Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump is also playing a part in the fact that this football tournament will not necessarily win a popularity award in the USA. Of course, the event is used for political purposes and Trump’s hostile behaviour towards people from Muslim-majority countries could also play its part in ensuring that matches involving football clubs from Africa and Asia in particular do not see high ticket sales. In general, travelling to the United States is simply not considered cool at the moment and there also seems to be a certain danger factor when entering the country for people from other countries.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup could also suffer from a lack of ticket demand
High ticket prices and the delicate political situation in the USA are also likely to have a negative impact on ticket sales for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. The US government has already imposed an entry ban for some countries, but what will happen if these countries qualify for the World Cup? These are difficult questions and certainly not easy conditions for FIFA, as it can only counteract this by reducing ticket prices for the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup and hope that the stands will ultimately be filled.
