The club World Cup is there. Here are 5 things to know: NPR

The male football tournament of the Club World Cup should start in stadiums in the United States on Saturday, with some of the best world teams in competition for a brand new trophy – and a lot of money.

The 32 -team tournament represents a daring bet of FIFA to unveil a completely altered version of a tournament which was previously much smaller. For the United States, this will be an opportunity to host a major event a year before the country played the World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

But the new format has been controversial. The players complained to add even more games to an already congested calendar. Ticket sales have been slow, forcing FIFA to reduce prices as part of a dynamic price model it introduced for the first time.

Again, there is money: a $ 1 billion pot will be distributed among all the participating teams, the winner should take up to $ 125 million.

Here are five things to know about the Club World Cup, over the next month.

So what is it?

It is not technically new. The previous versions of the Club World Cup were quite ready, composed of champions of the best regional competition of the club in the world (mainly six or seven teams in total), and it took place each year.

This is the turbo-loaded version.

Under the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, the tournament has been extended to 32 teams, a mixture of regional champions of recent years and others selected on the basis of regional rankings. Even the trophy received a huge overhaul.

He will now take place every four years, and he marks the ambitious attempt at FIFA to introduce a much more worldwide club tournament.

This year’s edition will include 63 games played in 11 cities in the United States, they include the opening match at 8 p.m. on Saturday between Inter Miami and Al Ahly from Egypt at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The final will take place at the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, on July 13.

The DAZN streaming platform has global rights and will offer all games for free. TNT SPORTS CO-BROADQUAST 24 games as part of a special case with DAZN.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Ousmane Dembélé, seen in a semi-final match of UEFA Nations League earlier this month against Spain, is one of the players to watch at the Club World Cup.

Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images

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Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images

So who will play?

Some of the best known and known teams around the world will play, including Real Madrid in Spain, Bayern Munich from Germany, Inter Milan of Italy and River Play in Argentina. This is an opportunity to look at some of the best players in the world, notably Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid, Ousmane Dembélé in Paris Saint-Germain and Lionel Messi from Inter Miami.

European clubs will have the most representatives – 12 – but not all the best teams participate. Certain notable absences, for example, include FC Barcelona of Spain and the Liverpool FC of England.

Instead, with the aim of globalizing the tournament more, other less known clubs have the chance to participate, including the Red Diamonds of Urawa from Japan, the Sundowns of Mamelodi from South Africa and Auckland City FC, an amateur club in New Zealand.

Who are the favorites?

No surprise here: European teams are considered the best suitors.

A European team won 16 of the 20 previous versions of the Club World Cup, including the last 11 consecutive editions.

But South American teams could provide steep competition. Brafogo in Brazil is the most recent winner of the first South American regional tournament, Copa Libertadores.

There will be high -level matches. Among the European parties, PSG – the most recent winner of the Champions League – is expected to face Atlético Madrid in Pasadena, California on Sunday. And the Juventus of Italy will face Manchester City on June 26 in Orlando.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich and the Argentinian side Boca Juniors will come up against June 20 in Miami, while Inter Milan will face River Plate on June 25 in Seattle.

The FIFA 2025 club World Cup is not exactly the hottest ticket in the city, but the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, illustrated last month at the FIFA 75th Congress at the headquarters of Conmebol in Paraguay, said that he thought that more fans will be interested once the matches really start.

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Daniel Duarte / AFP via Getty Images

Why was it so controversial?

Mainly because of a question of many players – and fans – asked: is this revised tournament still necessary?

FIFA has not responded to requests for comments. But FifPro, the union representing players around the world, was very critical of the tournament.

His European body has teamed up with leagues in Europe and the Liga of Spain to file a complaint against FIFA at the European Commission, arguing that the Club World Cup contributed to a “international suitsaturated football calendar” which endangered “the security and well-being of the players”.

In the world of football, players generally compete with their clubs on their domestic leagues as well as in separate national championships. The best teams also play in regional tournaments such as the Champions League or Copa Libertadores – and some players must also represent their national teams. It can be a packaged calendar.

And the organization has argued that the tournament will help further develop sport worldwide, saying that it would run $ 250 million in football clubs around the world.

So, is it proving to be a big draw for fans?

Not quite.

A recent overview through the inventory of tickets shows that many seats remain available in a wide band of games, including for marquee matches such as PSG against Atlético Madrid, although some teams like Real Madrid proved to be more important. Even the last match of July 13 has not yet sold.

Controversially, FIFA has implemented dynamic prices and initially started to sell tickets at prices considered too high for many fans – like $ 100 to $ 200 for group games. But FIFA has since reduced prices, while introducing promotions to stimulate sales.

Take the opening match on Saturday. To avoid having large pieces of empty seats, FIFA has dropped the prices and collaborated with the Miami Dade College to offer up to four additional tickets for fans who buy one for $ 20, which means a cost of only $ 4 per person to see Messi, according to an email seen by NPR.

The FIFA infantino has tried to manage expectations, telling the media that he thinks that more fans are interested once the game is launched.

It may be the great hope of FIFA – because so far, the unveiling of the Club World Cup has been bumpy.