Attention, Porto and Benfica: Club World Cup prizes could have been much smaller

With just under a year to go until the official start of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, the first edition of the new model introduced by FIFA to the competition, a major setback has emerged that could have financial implications for the clubs involved, including Portugal’s Benfica and FC Porto.

This Monday, in a note published on the official website, FIFA announced the launch of a tender for the sale of television rights for the competition, which will take place between June and July next year in the United States. This announcement raised many doubts about the possible financial contribution that the 32 teams that will take part in the tournament will receive only for registration, since it was widely known that FIFA was concluding a global agreement with Apple, the North American multinational technology company that was preparing to own the rights to broadcast the competition.

According to international press reports, Apple has made FIFA an offer of around one billion US dollars to buy the rights to broadcast the Club World Cup. What is happening is that this price, proposed by the company founded by Steve Jobs and now run by Jeff Williams and Tim Cook, was about four times lower than what the organization led by Swiss Gianni Infantino, the leader of FIFA, was asking for four billion dollars to transfer the rights to broadcast the tournament.

This change in the broadcast direction of the 2025 Club World Cup could have a significant financial impact on all 32 clubs taking part in the competition, particularly on the “box office” of Benfica and Porto, given that each of these teams was originally expected to receive around 50 million euros in participation prizes alone – this, of course, through the advertising and broadcasting agreements that FIFA has signed in the meantime.