…Says Club World Cup most successful club competition
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has disclosed that the football governing body will consider covered stadiums at the 2026 World Cup during the day.
“The conditions need cooling breaks, watering the pitch and seeing how we can do things better. But we have stadiums in America that are covered and one in Canada in Vancouver, which is covered, and we will definitely use these stadiums more during the day.”
Infantino made this known while speaking at Trump Tower in New York ahead of Sunday’s Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris St-Germain (PSG).
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The 2026 World Cup is due to take place in the US, Canada and Mexico over the same period next year.
Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium was the only covered stadium at the Club World Cup, but the 2026 World Cup will have a further four options with roofs – Vancouver, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles.
In New Jersey, where Sunday’s final, set to be attended by US President Donald Trump, will take place, temperatures have reached 38C in recent days.
Infantino accepted the high summer temperatures in the US are “definitely an issue” after Fernandez called on FIFA to consider player welfare before next summer’s 2026 World Cup.
Earlier this month, players’ union Fifpro said it believed Chelsea’s game against ES Tunis in Philadelphia, among others, should have been delayed or postponed because of the heat.
“Of course, the heat is definitely an issue,” said Infantino. “It’s an issue around the world. I remember it was the same in the Olympics in Paris and in other football games,” Infantino said.
The FIFA president said the Club World Cup is already the most successful club competition in the world, despite widespread criticism of the tournament.
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“We can say definitely that this FIFA Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success. Of course, there are a lot of positives and some negatives.
“We respect everyone’s opinion. It has been successful. We have had over 2.5 million in the stadium. That’s around 40,000 spectators per match – there is no league in the world with that number, except the Premier League, which, of course, has home teams and these are neutral stadiums.
“We heard financially it would not work, but I can say we generated over $2bn in revenues with this competition. We earned on average $33m per match. There is no other cup competition in the world that comes close to $33m per match.
“It is already the most successful club competition in the world with all different measurements,” Infantino said ahead of Sunday’s final.
