2025 Club World Cup: Revenues Exceed $1.8 Billion Before the Final

By: Mamdoh Almalki

The curtain falls tonight on the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, with an anticipated final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. This is the first edition after the tournament’s format was updated to include 32 clubs from across continents, giving it unprecedented momentum on both the sporting and economic levels.

Over the course of a full month of competition in 11 American cities, the tournament set record numbers in revenue and attendance, positioning itself among the world’s major sporting events and clearly reflecting the rising commercial value of club football tournaments.

According to official data from FIFA, the tournament’s total direct revenues reached approximately £1.5 billion (approximately $1.8 billion), averaging $33 million per match. This exceeds the expectations of most sports analysis companies and reflects the rising value of club football tournaments globally. Fan attendance also saw a significant jump, with the total number of tickets sold exceeding 2.5 million, with an average attendance of more than 40,000 spectators per match. This was despite reactions to the high temperatures of the American summer and the relatively high ticket prices. The number of fans attending the group stage alone exceeded 1.66 million, with an average of 34,700 fans per match, according to FIFA.

On the economic front, FIFA, in cooperation with the World Trade Organization (WTO), estimated the global economic impact of the tournament at approximately $21.1 billion, of which $9.6 billion was in the United States alone. Pre-tournament estimates also indicated that it would contribute to the creation of more than 105,000 new full-time jobs in various sectors such as tourism, transportation, security, and logistics. Regarding the financial prizes, FIFA has allocated $1 billion in prize money for the tournament, the highest ever in the history of club tournaments. This includes fees for participation, group stage victories, and qualification to the final rounds, in addition to special incentives for the best players. The winning team will receive approximately $125 million, while the runner-up will receive approximately $80 million. Teams qualifying for the round of 16 will receive at least $20 million each.

These figures come amid the growing interest of federations and sponsors in continental and international club tournaments, which have become one of FIFA’s most prominent revenue streams after the FIFA World Cup. The tournament also represents an integrated economic platform that goes beyond football, reflecting a shift in the economic model of sports from a technical competition to a global industry.