Ronaldo to join Messi at Inter Miami? The Club World Cup is a clown show

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 1 Apr 2025 12:10 BST
3 min read

Every day that passes, the FIFA Club World Cup turns into more and more of a clown show.

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The event has been a farce ever since it was spawned.

A football calendar that is already dangerously overcrowded has now added another summer event which lasts a month and consists of 32 club teams.

Top-level footballers are exhausted and injured like never before, with the ACL epidemic destroying the careers of so many elite players.

Club World Cup bad for everyone - except FIFA

The Club World Cup will only exacerbate this problem as players are pushed to the limit and face another summer with no rest.

The tournament is scheduled from the middle of June to the middle of July, even though player contracts expire on July 1.

This means numerous European-based players will not be able to play for their current clubs for most of the knockouts unless special arrangements are made.

The transfer market will be ongoing, meaning some players will leave their clubs or join new teams during the tournament.

In the spirit of making this a global event, there are many non-European teams who have qualified who are just not good enough to be playing at this level.

The lack of interest from TV companies in the tournament is proof of the indifference of fans.

There are other teams at the Club World Cup who have not even qualified.

© IMAGO - Inter Miami didn't qualify for Club World Cup

Inter Miami are only in the tournament via invite because FIFA wanted Lionel Messi there.

And now we have farcical stories of players signing short-term deals so clubs can play them at the Club World Cup.

Ronaldo has been linked with a sensational move to Inter Miami in a deal just for the tournament, before returning to Al Nassr.

FIFA certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of that given they invited Miami for Messi’s commercial value.

Meanwhile, in Germany there are reports that Bayern Munich will sign Thomas Muller to a short-term deal for the Club World Cup as his current contract expires at the end of June.

In addition to this, players out on loan will also have to extend their short-term deals that will expire at the same time. Borussia Dortmund are currently talking to Chelsea about extending Carney Chukwuemeka's loan for this reason.

The whole tournament is a complete farce.

This is not football, it’s a capitalist clown show.