Re: ⚽ FIFA Club World Cup 2025 - USA: Discussion Thread ⚽

Some European teams are still playing decently in fact. But most of them are disappointing, yeah. Sad

Of course unexpected results are also a part of football but this is just too much already.

The total prize is really huge. It must be even much higher than the Champions League. But still this doesn't get the attention of some good teams quite enough I guess. Or another thought, players can't focus well yet after a whole tiring season...

Wow, well FIFA competitions prize money are really kinda huge, participation alone brings a whole lot of money. But the problem here is that, we don't really know it's the European teams that are not really performing or could it be that this new format is really going to disrupt their incoming season? This competition will elapse around 13th of July and most European elite leagues will kickoff their new Season in August, now the question is, what time do they have to rest?

After seeing the performances of Dortmund, Madrid, Inter and most recently PSG I assume that even though this competition offers a fairly large prize they are not taking it too seriously as if they only put out half their strength because they are worried that there will be injuries to the players so that it will interfere with the main competition especially when I learned from you that this competition ends in July which strengthens my assumption why they play like that. I think this competition should not be too serious to bet on.

Great points from both of you — and I agree. After a grueling club season and Champions League campaign, a lot of these players are physically and mentally drained. This Club World Cup lands right when they should be resting, recharging, maybe spending time with family — not diving straight into another high-stakes tournament. No surprise they’re holding back a bit. Avoiding injuries and burnout is a priority, and it’s hard to play at full intensity when you know your preseason is just weeks away. This tournament feels more like an obligation than a goal for some clubs.