The inaugural 32-team FIFA Club World Cup™ will inspire young people around the world, spark investment in club football and create more opportunities for players and clubs around the world, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said in an interview with DAZN.

“I was coming from a context in Europe, where you have all these top clubs, you have great competitions, where you have players from all over the world, but as a football fan, (other non-European) clubs were never given a real stage to perform,” the Mr Infantino said, in relation to the thought process behind the FIFA Club World Cup, and the need for FIFA to provide that opportunity.

“In order to develop club football, which is 80 per cent of the football all over the world, we need to have global competition to give opportunities to all these clubs who are investing a lot in creating, developing talent.”

FIFA’s new global club competition kicks off in Miami on Saturday, 14 June 2025, when Inter Miami CF play Al Ahly FC, and ends in New York New Jersey on Sunday, 13 July 2025 when the first-ever official FIFA club world champions will be crowned.

Although football is the number one sport in the world, Mr Infantino said that the elite game is concentrated in very few clubs in very few countries. “What we want to achieve is that leads to globalised football, to make it truly, truly global, because when you scratch the surface. We say it’s the number one sport in the world, and it is. But then the elite is very concentrated in very few clubs, in very few countries, and we want to give hope, opportunities to Mamelodi Sundowns (FC) from South Africa, Ulsan (HD) from Korea (Republic), Auckland City (FC),” he said.

“This inspires so many people back in their countries, so many kids who can hope that they can be a part of something. So, this is history and I believe, I’m convinced that as soon as the ball starts rolling, the whole world will realise what is happening here – something special.”

The 32 clubs at the tournament represent 20 different countries and all six confederations, while players from 81 countries will be taking part. This means that it gives the opportunity to players who might never play for their country at the FIFA World Cup™ to play in a global tournament.

"A good, very good friend of mine is George Weah, former President of Liberia, but more important for us football fans, former legend, great player, Ballon d’Or winner, the only African player who ever won the Ballon d’Or, right? He never played in a (FIFA) World Cup," said Mr Infantino. “(But) he would have been playing in a (FIFA) Club World Cup.”

Mr Infantino said that with a revenue of around USD 2 billion, each match would be worth USD 30 million. “There is no other club competition in the world which is worth (USD) 30 million a match,” he said.

But the revenues have not come to the detriment of the fan experience in the FIFA Club World Cup. Thanks to the landmark deal with DAZN, the world’s leading sports entertainment platform, all 63 matches will be live-streamed free-to-air worldwide.

“For me, football belongs to the people,” Mr Infantino said. “Tell me one top competition today where you can watch [club] football for free...National team football, you can watch some games for free because governments had to make legislation to force us sports bodies to put some matches for free. [But club football] top leagues, no; everything on paid. You can be in Timbuktu, you can be in Hanoi, or you can be in New York, or in London or in Rome, or in Madrid and you can watch the (FIFA) Club World Cup, which is the best players in the world, the best clubs in the world, for free. It’s not too bad, right?”