FIFA president Gianni Infantino proudly hailed this summer’s inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup as a “big bang” moment for soccer.
Given the swollen sums on offer for teams operating in confederations with more modest budgets, the tournament could spark several increasingly one-sided universes. Auckland City’s amateurs, as an example, accrued the smallest sum yet still returned to their day jobs as barbers, advertising executives and trainee teachers with $4.6 million in the club’s coffers. That’s the equivalent of winning the OFC Champions League 61 times.
Inter Miami will also benefit from riches which multiple runs to the MLS Cup final would not have been able to match, banking $21.1 million despite the somewhat humiliating nature of their eventual exit to Paris Saint-Germain.
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