Football Club World Cup: Saudi Arabia saves Trump's show

Donald Trump is hard to beat when it comes to baffling audiences with fact-free claims, but Gianni Infantino achieved a notable partial success in March. During a visit to the White House, the FIFA president claimed that the Club World Cup in the summer of 2025 and the World Cup for national teams the following year could generate $40 billion and create 200,000 jobs . If he has his way, the two tournaments will trigger an unprecedented economic boom in the USA.

How Infantino came to his assessment remains unclear; economists are currently predicting a recession for the USA. The Club World Cup, in which 32 teams will compete for the first time from June 14 to July 13, is taking place before the eyes of an American population the majority of whom has other concerns. Expenditure at the tournament has so far been at a record high. To appease club officials who warned of injuries due to the busy schedule, world football's governing body promised them unprecedented prize money . In total, the participating teams will receive $1 billion , $525 million of which will be spent just for traveling there.

Such vast sums have to be refinanced, and host Trump isn't much help here, especially since he knows little about football. "Can the USA win?" he asked Infantino during his visit in March. With an eye on the 2026 World Cup, the American president also announced that it would be the first time the tournament would be held in this part of the world. At this point, at the very latest, he had caught up with Infantino in terms of his loose handling of facts . Football's most important event was already held in the USA in 1994, and in Mexico in 1970 and 1986.

Despite all his gaps in sports history, Trump is looking forward to the tournaments. Several weeks after Infantino's visit, the Club World Cup trophy was still noticeable during state visits to the Oval Office ; it had simply been left there on a dresser. Perhaps not least because of its gleaming gold and gigantic size.

Someone has to foot the horrendous bill, though. And this week it became clear who that is. On Wednesday, just ten days before the opening match of the Club World Cup, FIFA announced Qatar Airways as a tournament partner . A day later, another backer, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund , joined the fold. The government vehicle's press release was full of promises that the tournament would redefine club football and promote innovation. The Saudis, too, have mastered the art of freeing themselves from the facts.

But the kingdom is also protecting the tournament from financial difficulties , in stark contrast to Trump, who is scaring fans away with travel restrictions, thus undermining its success. The country's sovereign wealth fund has already invested one billion dollars in shares in the television broadcaster DAZN, after the latter secured the media rights to the Club World Cup for the same amount.

Saudi Arabia saves Trump's show . Football becomes a reflection of geopolitics.

An article from the « NZZ am Sonntag »