FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said the players of the 32 teams competing to be the first true FIFA club world champions “are loving” playing at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, during an interview at the Fanatics Fest NYC in New York, United States. One week into the most inclusive club competition ever, some 1.5 million tickets have been sold to fans from over 130 countries with the total attendance expected to pass one million supporters on Sunday. While the fans have shown their love for the new competition by flocking to matches, Mr Infantino said the feedback from the players had also been very positive.

“I think the players who play, they are loving it. Harry Kane, yesterday – captain of the (England national) team – he played in Miami with [FC] Bayern [München] against Boca Juniors. A fantastic match, great fans, and Harry Kane gave an interview saying it’s a fantastic competition, it’s beautiful. So, they love it,” he said during a “fireside chat” with US sports broadcaster Jordan Schultz at the Javits Center. “Those who are not there, of course, they would love to be there. So, maybe, some criticise it a little bit, but it’s something new, it’s something special, it’s something big. It is a real World Cup with the best teams and the best players.” The FIFA Club World Cup™ is the first of three flagship tournaments that are planned in the US in the next six years. The maiden 48-team FIFA World Cup™ will be co-hosted by the US and their north American neighbours, Canada and Mexico, in 2026, and U.S. Soccer have also submitted a bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031™, the first with 48 participating countries.

Mr Infantino said seeing the world’s best footballers playing in the country would boost the profile and popularity of the sport in the US, though he highlighted the need for children to have the opportunity to play without having to pay, as is common practice currently. “For children it must be free to play football. You go to Europe or Africa, you can play football for free, you can play soccer for free. We need to bring this [to] the US as well and then you will see the talent will go to play soccer,” he explained. “This is what we’re changing now with the FIFA Club World Cup and the (FIFA) World Cup next year, is to show to young Americans that, actually, if you’re good and if you are talented, you don’t need to go to another sport, because through soccer there is a path for glory and a path for money as well.” FIFA are making a contribution of USD 1 million to each of the 11 cities staging FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches to help build small community-focused pitches and to support other social projects, increasing access to the world’s most popular game in some of the US’s most underprivileged neighbourhoods.

“It’s really wonderful, a tremendous amount of access that wasn’t previously there,” he said, adding that FIFA would build on that platform to create a generation of football-loving Americans. “Our job, as FIFA, is to convince the authorities in municipalities and cities to create the surfaces, the pitches, for children to play. And then you will find parents who bring them and play with them and train them.” He added: “So, the next generation of parents – they will have played soccer, and they will know how to teach their children. So, we just need the conditions. And that’s why we are investing here in all the cities.” The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final will also feature the first-ever half-time show, a historic event that will also feature at a FIFA World Cup final for the first time next year. The tournament has also seen a number of other innovations introduced, including a bodycam worn by match referees to give fans unique insight into what officials see at pitch level – and there have been additional side benefits.

“We want to be innovative in FIFA, we want to engage with technology and that’s why, for the first time in history, we put a little cam, a bodycam next to the ear of the referee,” said Mr Infantino before going on to explain that following the eyes of the referee was key in deciding the technology to use, as well as its location. “We were thinking, ‘Should we put the camera on the chest of the referee?’ But because the referee is looking, if you put it on the chest and the referee looks there and the camera looks there [pointing in the opposite direction], it looks odd. (With the camera on the referee’s ear), you can see exactly where the referee is looking and you can see exactly the action. I mean, incredible pictures.

“The players, also, they know the referee has a camera, so when we go to him, we need to be careful of what we say and how we speak and what we do.”

At the event which featured a number of American sporting legends, such as Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Tom Brady and Joe Montana, NBA superstars LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama, NHL greats Jaromír Jágr and Henrik Lundqvist, and MLB icons Cal Ripken Jr. and Mike Piazza, Mr Infantino also said the entertainment aspect of American sports is something football can still develop.

“Really we can learn a lot from NFL, from American sports, generally: NBA, baseball, ice hockey, in terms of the whole entertainment around the game, everything that is offered to the fans. You know, we tend, sometimes, to forget that and we focus on the game, which is, of course, very important. We focus on what happens on the pitch. We need to focus more on the fans, give them opportunities,” he said. “I love historic stadiums, of course, but at some stage we need to become modern. We need to make stadiums that our fans are welcomed, our fans can spend a great time with their families, where children can come and be safe, and be in a clean, safe environment. And that’s what we have to do.”