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After years of existing only as a fever dream inside the shiny, spacious cranium of Fifa’s greatest showman, Gianni Infantino, the first edition of an expanded, summertime Club World Cup that nobody asked for is finally here. Infantino’s most ambitious vanity project to date is about to collide with reality, and as students of the Swiss school of football farce, we’re excited. It’s not so much a question of what will go wrong over the next 30 sun-baked days in an increasingly dystopian USA USA USA, but what might actually go right. Saturday’s opener pitches Egyptian giants Al-Ahly (who qualified by winning the 2021 African Big Cup) against MLS middleweights Inter Miami (who qualified by having Lionel Messi in their team) at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium. Fifa has denied reports that fewer than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the game in Miami, but the tournament’s dynamic pricing model is trending in one direction: from $349 in December, some tickets are now cheaper than $60.
In an effort to fill seats, local college students have reportedly been offered a multi-buy deal at $4 a seat. Other early highlights include Bayern Munich v Auckland City, an amateur side who claimed Oceania’s only qualifying spot and may be hoping to avoid a baseball scoreline in Cincinnati. PSG v Atlético Madrid on Sunday might sound a more bearable prospect – but the game will be played in 30-degree heat at the Rose Bowl, a roofless arena on the outskirts of a city in turmoil. Donald Trump’s response to protests against deportations in Los Angeles has been to send in the military; hosting glorified pre-season friendlies is the last thing on anyone’s minds right now. It may come to pass that Gianni’s great white elephant is obscured by the elephant in the room.
