USA | FC Bayern at the Club World Cup: Making money

The Club World Cup adventure in the USA began on Tuesday for FC Bayern 's first travel group, with the ten-hour flight departing in the early afternoon. Several national team players are scheduled to arrive on Thursday to prepare with their teammates for the new tournament featuring 32 teams from all over the world. New signings Jonathan Tah and Tom Bischof will also be eligible to play from the start, after the Munich club took advantage of the newly created transfer window created by FIFA and paid six-figure transfer fees for both players. Both would have arrived on July 1st on a free transfer.

The Munich team will have to get used to temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and high humidity in Orlando. A short "recovery session" is planned for the start of training this Wednesday to help acclimatize the team. The gentle start is complemented by the fact that the players' families will be traveling with them and will initially be allowed to stay at the base camp, which, like the training grounds, is located at the Walt Disney World Resort.

FC Bayern travels with the highest aspirations. "We want to win the tournament," said President Herbert Hainer. CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen hopes that FC Bayern will be "the first to be engraved on this trophy." But that won't happen. FIFA President Gianni Infantino's signature has already been engraved. According to FIFA, the trophy was inspired by "the great explorers, the periodic table, astronomy, and the Voyager Golden Records sent into space." For Infantino, the trophy, which can be changed shape using a key, is "a revolutionary symbol of a golden, new future for club football, inspired by the past."

Critics see things quite differently. They fear that the gap between the national leagues will be further exacerbated by the Club World Cup. FC Bayern alone will receive almost €30 million in signing bonuses, while the second German participant, Borussia Dortmund, will receive six million less. If they win the title, the Munich team could earn more than €110 million in FIFA bonuses.

Clubs like FC Bayern, for example, which regularly compete in the Champions League , are already operating in a completely different financial sphere than most other Bundesliga clubs. In the just-completed season, the Munich squad was worth around 20 times more than that of newly promoted Holstein Kiel, which was then immediately relegated. The additional immense revenue will widen the financial gap further. Because the financial incentives of the Club World Cup outweigh the sporting ones, it is primarily a money-making opportunity for the Munich team.

The games are only likely to become truly interesting in the knockout phase. FC Bayern kicks off Group C on June 15 in Cincinnati against Auckland City. Their opponents from New Zealand are amateurs and have a lower squad market value than, for example, third-division side SC Verl. Boca Juniors from Argentina may have a well-known reputation, but they are also unlikely to be competitive on June 20 in Miami. Their squad value is roughly equivalent to that of FC St. Pauli. The Munich team's most likely threat will be their third group opponent, Benfica Lisbon, on June 24 in Charlotte. Their squad value is roughly on a par with Eintracht Frankfurt .

Another debate during the tournament revolves around the strain on the players. However, they are generally unwilling to accept this. National player Joshua Kimmich, who just played in the final tournament of the Nations League , says he is looking forward to every game. He points to his colleagues in England and Spain, who have to play more league and cup games. Coach Vincent Kompany, who was once active in the players' union Fifpro, expressed concerns. Last September, he even renewed his call for a cap on the number of games played per season: "This protects the health of the players, but also the interests of the clubs." This is unlikely to have been well received by his employer due to financial interests. Kompany now prefers to speak of anticipation of the Club World Cup.

Perhaps the debate will flare up again in the autumn, when FC Bayern's players are suffering from fatigue and injuries and the record champions have to accept a defeat against FC St. Pauli in their everyday league play.