FIFA president Infantino promises 'the world will be welcomed' as Club World Cup preps for US debut

PHILADELPHIA — Take a look at Ticketmaster or most secondary market websites this week and there are plenty of seats still available at various stadiums for this year's Club World Cup in the United States.

No, not the World Cup. The ''FIFA Club World Cup 2025.''

It's an international soccer tournament designed to bring together 32 professional teams from around the world with matches in 11 American cities, including Philadelphia. Lincoln Financial Field will host six group stage matches, a round-of-16 match, and, per FIFA, ''a highly anticipated quarterfinals match'' on July 4.

In fact, while FIFA President Gianni Infantino promoted the tournament — a pair of Lombardi Trophies for the Philadelphia Eagles behind him — he alternated between Spanish and English and at one point turned to American reporters to say, ''Buy tickets. There are still a few available.''

Whether you call it soccer or call it football, the sport is coming to the U.S. this year, in part to promote next year's real deal World Cup. Next year's tournament, with 48 national teams for the first time, also will be played at various NFL stadiums, as well as in Canada and Mexico. FIFA plans to spread the wealth of staging the warm-up event, pledging on Thursday $1 million to each of the 11 cities that will host Club World Cup matches this summer.

''Everyone thinks that the country winning their own national or continental competition is the best in the world,'' Infantino said, referring to tournaments like the Champions League and Copa Libertadores. ''But that's actually not the case. So we decided to create a real World Cup for teams.''

This year's revamped and expanded tournament is set to start on June 15 and run through July 13, with the final set for New Jersey's MetLife Stadium — also the site of the 2026 World Cup final. FIFA announced earlier this year a $1 billion broadcast deal with DAZN for broadcast rights to this summer's Club World Cup.

Twelve teams from Europe will be included in the Club World Cup: Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid and Salzburg.

Other teams that have qualified are Boca Juniors, Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and River Plate from South America; Leon, Monterrey and Pachuca from North America; Al Ahly, Esperance, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wydad from Africa; Al-Hilal, Al Ain, Ulsan and Urawa from Asia; and Auckland City from Oceania.

''I don't have any concerns about ticket sales,'' Infantino said. ''We'll have full stadiums in America. If in America you fill soccer stadiums for friendly games, then when you come with a World Cup and the best players to win a competition ... we'll have to promote it, we'll have to present it, we'll have to explain it to the people. That's what we are doing. But it's a celebration of soccer and the stadiums will be full and fans will be coming from all over the world.''

The current U.S. political climate could be enough to scare off fans from traveling overseas for the games. Infantino met with President Donald Trump last month in the Oval Office to hype this event — and next year's true main event.

''The world loves America, whatever some might say,'' Infantino said.

''It's absolutely crucial that we have this collaboration,'' Infantino said. ''This never would have been possible some years ago with the image that FIFA had. We came back a long way. Today, we work in a clear way, in a transparent way, in an ethical way. We'll bring the world to the United States of America. These are the guarantees the United States government signed at the time of the bidding, and reconfirmed of course. The world will be welcomed.''

Eagles wide receiver and Super Bowl champion AJ Brown hit the Linc to promote the event but noted he never played much soccer beyond the FIFA videogame. He said he planned to attend his first soccer matches this summer — a first-time fan, just like FIFA hoped would attend the summer extravaganza.

''I always heard great things,'' Brown said.

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