Post-mortem: Heat, seats and surprises

The expanded Club World Cup in the United States, which was marred by empty seats, slashed ticket prices, searing heat, weather-delayed matches and a criticized field surface, ended in a surprise victory for Chelsea, the fourth-placed team in England's Premier League.

Among the lasting lessons will be FIFA's decision to dramatically drop ticket costs as some kickoff times approached, which could impact decisions by fans thinking of attending next year's World Cup. FIFA lowered the cost to attend the Chelsea-Fluminense semifinal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to $13.40 from $473.90, then dropped tickets to the final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain from $330 to $199.60.

There will be 104 matches at next year's expanded 48-nation World Cup, and many are likely to be on weekday afternoons. FIFA has not said whether it will use dynamic pricing at the tournament and has declined to comment on discounting.

The 63 matches of this new club showpiece eventually drew 2.49 million fans, about 62 percent of the listed capacity. FIFA didn't disclose tournament venue capacities, focusing instead on tickets sold rather than the around 1.5 million unfilled seats, and would not address price cuts.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino assessed the expanded tournament he championed, saying: "It is already the most successful club competition in the world."

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was less enthusiastic, telling the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag it was "the worst idea ever implemented in football", because of demands on players as a result of the extended season.

PSG played its 65th competitive match and Chelsea its 64th since starting in mid-August last year. Each team will have 33-35 days off before the 2025-26 season opens.

"I told my players that this competition will become just as important, or even more important, than the Champions League," victorious Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said. But earlier, he had criticized the tournament's locale because of the adverse weather, describing the heat as dangerous and lamenting storm delays.

Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac, meanwhile, said the grass at MetLife Stadium, site of next year's World Cup final, was so short "it's more like a golf green, so you can putt here."

Tiny US television audience

The streaming service DAZN bought the global broadcast rights, and sublicensed 24 of the 63 matches to TNT Sports, which averaged 418,000 viewers for the first 23 matches with English-language commentary on TNT, TBS and truTV. Seventeen matches sublicensed to TelevisaUnivision with Spanish commentary averaged 551,000.

By comparison, NBC's networks averaged 510,000 viewers per round for the Premier League in 2024-25, regular-season Major League Baseball is averaging 1.841 million this year on Fox and 1.74 million on the cable network ESPN. The NFL averaged 17.5 million during the 2024 regular season. DAZN has not yet released figures, but says it will within the week.

Hot seat

The temperature was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C) for many matches, with humidity that made it closer to 100 F (38 C). "Honestly, the heat is incredible," Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez said.

"Playing in this temperature is very dangerous."

Six games were disrupted due to weather for a total of eight hours and 29 minutes, raising questions over the suitability of the US for next year's World Cup during a time of global warming. Only four of the 11 US World Cup venues have a roof, including one that isn't temperature controlled.

"Players have played in these conditions before, but I think it doesn't make it easy and it doesn't make it as enjoyable, for sure," said former Wales captain Gareth Bale, a DAZN commentator who attended the semifinals and final. "It's one of those things, and there's no real way around it."

At the 1994 World Cup in the US, just seven of 52 games had local nighttime starts, in order to ensure evening kickoff times for European broadcasts.

Missing champions

While FIFA hyped the tournament as a competition of the best teams in the world, it didn't include the current champions of England (Liverpool), Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Napoli) and Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) among the dozen European clubs participating. Instead of inviting the latest league winners, FIFA's rules based entry primarily on continental titles won over four years and ranking points, with some limits on clubs from the same nation.

Lionel Messi's Inter Miami got an invite even though it has never won the MLS title.

Player welfare

The Club World Cup means that the top players will likely face three consecutive years of summer tournaments, following the European Championship and Copa America last year and the World Cup in 2026.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said the impact of the new tournament might not be known until midway through next season.

"I may say: 'So listen, we are a disaster. We are exhausted. The Club World Cup destroyed us,'" he admitted.

Bayern Munich and Germany star Jamal Musiala likely faces months out of action after sustaining a fractured fibula and broken and dislocated ankle in his team's quarterfinal loss to PSG.

A global game

FIFA wanted the Club World Cup to help grow the sport globally and shine a light on clubs outside of Europe's most popular leagues. To some degree, it achieved that.

Brazilian teams excelled, with all four entrants advancing to the knockout stage. Botafogo produced one of the upsets of the tournament by beating PSG in the group phase, while Fluminense reached the semis.

Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal advanced to the quarterfinals and ousted Manchester City.

Lionel Messi led Inter Miami to the round of 16, notching a first competitive win against European opposition for an MLS franchise, defeating Porto in the group phase. The other US teams, the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC, were less impressive, both exiting at the group stage without a win.

New Zealand's Auckland City lost 10-0 to Bayern, while a game between South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and South Korea's Ulsan drew just 3,412 fans.

A matter of quality

Messi produced glimpses of magic, but Kylian Mbappe was limited by a bout of acute gastroenteritis.

While many matches in the group stage, in particular, were competitive, only a few will be remembered for their iconic moments.

Agencies via Xinhua