Fifa spends ‘over US$50m’ on Club World Cup marketing to drive ticket sales

World soccer’s governing body reportedly increased original budget by millions of dollars in past month to try and boost attendances.

• Fifa has used influencers on Instagram to help promote Club World Cup
• Opening game was watched by more than 60,000 at Hard Rock Stadium
• Official attendance at 71,000-seater Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Chelsea vs LAFC was only 22,137

Fifa’s efforts to promote the 2025 Club World Cup in the US have reportedly led the organisation to spend over US$50 million on marketing, with the original budget increasing by millions in the past month.

The revamped 32-team tournament, which kicked off on 14th June, is the pet project of Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who aims to establish a globally recognised club competition that will generate new revenues and expand the influence of world soccer’s governing body.

To drum up stateside interest in the Club World Cup, Fifa has upped its marketing spend significantly, according to The Athletic, with a heavy focus on social media that has seen the organisation pump money into promoting posts with significant number of influencers on Instagram.

Fifa has also reportedly spent significantly on highway advertising boards in several cities.

However, it was reported that the opening match of the tournament between Inter Miami and Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium, which has a capacity of 64,767, was struggling to sell tickets. This was highlighted at the start of June by the cost of tickets for the game being less than a sixth of their original price of US$349.

In the end, the combination of reduced prices and Fifa offering complimentary tickets contributed to a healthy 60,927 attending the match.

Since then, attendances for the group stages have been mixed. Bayern Munich’s 10-0 hammering of Auckland City was watched by 21,152 at the 26,000-seater TQL Stadium. Paris Saint-Germain’s win against Atletico Madrid drew an attendance of 80,619 at the Rose Bowl stadium, which has a capacity of 89,702.

Meanwhile, Palmeiras versus Porto was attended by 46,275 fans in the 82,500 MetLife Stadium, while Seattle Sounders versus Botafogo had a crowd of 30,151 at Lumen Field, which holds 68,740.

Despite the empty seats for the last two matches, those were reasonable attendances for a new-look tournament. But the most concerning crowd for Fifa so far would have been for Chelsea’s victory against Los Angeles FC. The attendance for that match at the 71,000-seater Mercedes-Benz Stadium was recorded as 22,137.

The Athletic adds that the cheapest seat available for that fixture, as of Monday lunchtime, was still US$52.

Fifa has remained bullish about the Club World Cup gaining traction in the US and anticipates ticket sales to increase as the tournament progresses. Infantino himself stated in April that he was unconcerned about empty stadiums.

“When I see some of the stadiums in the United States filling itself when some teams are coming to play some friendly games, exhibition games, then I’m not worried at all to fill a stadium when teams are coming to play a World Cup, to play for, you know, something, something real,” he said.

Credit: https://www.sportspro.com/news/fifa-club-world-cup-marketing-spend-ticket-sales-attendance-june-2025/