FIFA Club World Cup: prize money, sponsors, attendance and more
The FIFA Club World Cup is the international club competition where the year’s continental champions face off. We take a look at a few of the business aspects of the FIFA Club World Cup, from location to prize money and from attendance figures to sponsors.
Qatar host of the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup
The 16th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup takes place in Doha, Qatar from 11 to 21 December. The Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium will host seven teams across eight matches. The Education City Stadium was the third stadium scheduled to host matches including the final. However, despite being completed and operational there was no time to hold test events at the venue.
It will be the first of two editions in Qatar, after the previous two editions were held in the United Arab Emirates, and will serve as preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The club competition is a great way to bring the world’s game to new (smaller) football markets. Apart from the first edition, which was held in Brazil in 2000 – prior to a four-year hiatus – the event has taken place in developing football nations Japan (eight times), United Arab Emirates (four times) and Morocco (twice).
New format in 2021
In 2021 the FIFA Club World Cup will take place in China and take on a new format. Instead of seven, 24 teams from six confederations will compete and instead of December the competition will take place during the months June and July. The new format will essentially replace the FIFA Confederations Cup.
FIFA Club World Cup prize money
The prize money for this year’s FIFA Club World Cup has not officially been revealed. However, past editions are probably a good indication of the amounts that will be awarded. In the last few editions the winner received $5 million, the runner-up $4 million, third place $2.5 million and fourth place $2 million.
UEFA Champions League winner Liverpool and CONMEBAL Copa Libertadores champion Flamengo, both entering this year’s competition at the semi-final stage, will thus be assured of at least $2 million (that is if the prize money of previous years is any indication for this edition).
Fifth, sixth and seventh place got respectively $1.5 million, $1 million and $0.5 million.
Attendance figures FIFA Club World Cup Final
Source: FIFA.com | 2001-2004 no tournament
A record attendance figure was set at the very first FIFA Club World Cup edition in Brazil when both a group stage match and the final had an attendance of 73,000. Between 2001 and 2004 there was no tournament and in 2005 FIFA introduced a new format.
The 2016 edition in Japan had the second highest attendance. In the final in Yokohama 68,742 people (95% of 72,327 capacity) saw Real Madrid beat Japanese side Kashima Antlers.
Last year’s final between Real Madrid and Al Ain FC was contested in front of 40,696 people in Abu Dhabi.
Sponsors FIFA Club World Cup
Just before the start of the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup FIFA unveiled that Alibaba would be the event’s Presenting Partner until 2022. This edition ‘Alibaba Cloud’ is visible around the tournament and thus gets a lot of exposure in and around the stadiums, through global broadcasts and online.
In addition to Alibaba and five of FIFA’s six main partners (Adidas, Coca Cola, Wanda, Qatar Airways and Visa), the FIFA Club World Cup has three national supporters. These three include FIFA.com and FIFA living football. The third is GWC, the leading provider of logistics and supply chain solutions in Qatar.
Sponsors 2019 FIFA Club World Cup teams
| Club | Kit sponsor | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| Al Hilal FC (SAU) | S Team | EMAAR (financial services) |
| CF Monterrey (MEX) | Puma | OXXO (convenience stores) |
| Espérance S. de Tunis (TUN) | Umbro | Délice & Danone (food) |
| Hienghène Sport (NCL) | – | Sas Vavouto Koniambo (nickel) |
| Liverpool FC (ENG) | New Balance | Standard Chartered (financial services) |
| Al-Sadd Sports Club (QAT) | Puma | Qatar Airways (airline) |
| CR Flamengo (BRA) | Adidas | BS2 (financial services) |
Monterrey will wear a special jersey for the FIFA Club World Cup, including a different shirt sponsor. Instead of telecommunication provider AT&T it will show OXXO on the front.
FIFA Club World Cup Experience
During the 2018 edition the organisation created a FIFA Club World Cup experience where fans’ skills were tested in four core football challenges. How were fans’ saving and diving abilities, their vertical jump and heading abilities, their passing, ball control and shooting abilities? An ‘Ultimate Hero’ was eventually chosen based on age and gender, while an interactive scoring system ranked friends and family against one another.
To bring the fan zone to fans all across the UAE the organisation toured to over 50 locations, like malls, schools, football organisations and events, in over 200 days.
It is unclear yet what kind of off-field experience the organisation will offer fans this year.
You can find the FIFA Club World Cup’s latest news and match schedule on the official FIFA website. For other sports events to attend you can have a look at our sports events calendar.
