one neat trick to fix the men's club world cup

If you want to trap FIFA President Gianni Infantino all you need is a stick, string, cardboard box, and a billion dollars from an investment fund. Digital ad boards promoting PIF—the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia—on pitches across America are an unsubtle hint at the only reason this summer’s men’s Club World Cup exists. It’s a tournament no one was really asking for in men’s football, but has been forced without care or thought to the current political landscape in America, or what even is the point. If only on the day this was created, Infantino had felt like someone who remembered women’s soccer exists.

This 32-team men’s Club World Cup has been goofy for a number of reasons. It’s super spread out across the country with multiple games kicking off in the middle of workdays to several subpar, even laughable, crowds; the bulk of the games are broadcast exclusively on DAZN (an app that will try to convince you that people still care about boxing every time you log on); there’s an ongoing dispute between MLS clubs and the MLSPA over the players’ split of the money each team is getting just for being there; and one of the biggest stars in the world, Kylian Mbappé, ate American food for a week and developed acute gastroenteritis—the European stomach cannot comprehend.

Oh, and President Trump’s Carhartt-clad gestapo are using games as their own personal hunting grounds—or at least keep threatening to.

All of that falls along the spectrum between not ideal and just plain bad. Soccer fans are used to enduring a lot of nonsense that comes with loving this sport, particularly fans of men’s soccer. But the fundamental disconnect with the men’s Club World Cup is that it can never capitalize on its stated reason for existing: to crown the best club in world football.

The vast majority of money and resources in men’s football is concentrated in Europe. This isn’t to say that there aren’t quality teams or elite players outside of Europe, but it is to say that any club team from anywhere in the world faces a significant deficit when up against a European team, particularly those who have lifted trophies. Decades of the world’s wealthiest people—and, now, sovereign wealth funds—funneling money and resources have made Europe home to the top-5 wealthiest leagues in the world. This, plus accessibility, marketing and promotion, is why the UEFA Champions League feels like it already answers the question of the best club team in the world.

Argentina may have won the last World Cup, but only five players on that team played in a league outside of Europe. One of the five was Lionel Messi, who joined Barcelona’s youth setup at 13 before eventually leaving Europe for Inter Miami at 76-years-young. So instead, these games feel more like multiple rounds of Community Shield matches rather than the intense club competition trying to situate itself atop the UEFA Champions League to crown the undisputed best team in the world.

Women’s football, as of now, is vastly different. Europe still has a strong presence, but top-echelon teams can also be found in the United States and Mexico, with some clubs in Canada, Brazil, Japan and Australia not being miles behind.

Despite what noted ghoul Jill Ellis believes, a biannual World Cup is a dumb idea, especially when club football is on the rise. There is no replacement or supplement for a healthy domestic soccer landscape. Women’s soccer cannot sustain on World Cups alone, so the growth and development of domestic leagues across the world is paramount for the continued growth of the sport.

And right now, women’s soccer has a unique opportunity that the current landscape of men’s soccer can’t come close to replicating. When developing a brand new tournament that’s going to inject several thousand miles of travel and minutes played into the legs of overworked players, the central question must be: Would it be worth it?

Whereas the answer regarding this men’s Club World Cup is a planet-sized neon sign reading ‘NO’, a women’s Club World Cup has purpose. While there is a money and resource gap—which is also growing—it’s also true that it’s damn near impossible to tell who is actually the best club team in women’s soccer. The betting favorite would be Barcelona, but they were just beaten in the Women’s Champions League final by a team that finished twelve points behind its league’s champions. Several teams in the NWSL and Liga MX Femenil would like a word as well.

The closest women’s soccer has ever gotten were preseason tournaments that used to invite clubs like Lyon and Barcelona to the United States to face NWSL competition. Naturally, being preseason tournaments, fans of visiting clubs (or, weirdly, European women’s soccer as a whole) could brush aside any unanticipated results. But Sophia Wilson (neé Smith) did an Allen Iverson stepover of Wendie Renard, and the Houston Dash once had Barcelona in hell and it was extremely fun.

There’s also the hemispheric beef between fans of leagues in Europe and the Americas. In addition to online beefs, there’s also a genuine dichotomy of styles—and teams stacked with players capable of executing those systems at a high level. A women’s Club World Cup champion would have a far more righteous and serious claim to being the best club team in women’s soccer.

Instead, FIFA trudged forward with a half-baked men’s variation because the pile of money on offer was too vast to stop and ask questions before diving in Scrooge McDuck style. Apparently a 19-team women’s version of this competition is coming, but is only tentatively scheduled to kickoff in January of 2028. To add to the confusion, FIFA is also establishing a six-team Women’s Champions Cup scheduled for 2026. Their decision to do both shows a lack of understanding of the current women’s soccer landscape and how big a women’s Club World Cup could be, and risks undercutting it years before it can exist. If only Infantino would have also felt like a person with common sense that day.