Leo Messi no longer sells tickets as the Club World Cup opening match faces the prospect of thousands of empty seats. But free streaming could make FIFA’s new-look tournament the most watched sporting event in history.
The first ever 32 team Club World Cup kicks off in Miami on Sunday 15 June and former Manchester United, Millwall & England winger Gordon Hill says 200 dollar tickets have priced him out of attending matches in Seattle.
But money is no object for the oil rich Saudis. After failing to persuade Bruno Fernandes to join them, Al Hilal have unveiled Simone Inzaghi as their new head coach.
The Italian who took Inter Milan to the Champions League Final will be in charge for the Al Hilal’s opening match against Real Madrid.
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hello and welcome to a special edition of the Gordy and Gubs podcast as we look ahead to the Club World Cup here in the UK i’m John Gber and over in Seattle one of the venues when it all kicks off starting next Sunday is the king of all Cognney Gordon Hill gordon we haven’t recorded an episode since your birthday back in April how are you one month older but still still following everything and still keeping up and looking forward to seeing what next month this month actually does with the World Club Cup absolutely yeah just to inform everybody who doesn’t know about the Club World Cup i know people are going to start getting more information about it now certainly here in the in the UK it was been very quiet until this week when stories have started to drop about things happening to do with teams in the Club World Cup we’ve got 32 teams it kicks off with the opening game in Miami david Beckham’s Inter Miami play host to Al All Ali the team from Egypt what I can tell you about Ali is the name means national in Arabic and their nickname is the Red Devils because they normally play in red you’re a former Red Devil of course of the Manchester United variety but I’m guessing you won’t be too familiar with Al Alli no not really John there’s a lot of clubs that are coming into this World Club Cup um it’ll be the first one that we’ve actually seen to see how it takes off it’s how can I say it’s a it’s a question mark competition because there are so many teams that are in that we don’t know about but it’ll be good to see what happens in preparation for the 26 World Cup absolutely the one of the talking points today here in the UK has been the ticket prices the the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami has a capacity of over 65,000 but so far we’re told tens of thousands of tickets remain unsold and the crowd could be as low as 20,000 do you think with so many matches scheduled in this tournament there’s 63 games over the four weeks fans will be selective over which are the most attractive games to go to well obviously it’s very similar to the World Cup you get the favorites getting support they’re going to get their tickets they’re going to be able to sell those tickets and then the smaller clubs are going to be okay fine you know you’re going to get one man and his dog so to speak and it’s going to be very interesting to see how they fathom it out because my first thoughts was to make it affordable for everybody because it’s so new so that everybody can see and get their own idea of what this is going to be but it seems to me John as though they’re pricing pricing it out of the market which you and I spoke about fifa were obviously hoping the attraction of Messi in the opening game would do the trick but it doesn’t seem to have worked and I think fans will know that each team has got three games in the group because there’s eight groups four teams in each group so each team has three games and they put a lot of eggs into the basket of the TV coverage because Done which is a UK-based company have paid a billion dollars reportedly for the TV rights and they’re going to be streaming it so they’re they’re announcing today it’s going to be the biggest sporting event that’s ever been streamed what they’re saying is it’s going to have the biggest streaming audience of any sporting event in the history of of sport which is quite a big statement but it’s because there’s going to be 63 matches and all going to be streamed live on TV so it’s obvious that people will stream it because otherwise they won’t be able to keep up with most of the matches well you you’ve just said it you know you screen everything that’s moving on a soccer field here uh you’re going to get the audience you’re going to get the curious you’re going to get the people that love the game you’re going to get supporters that want to see their favorite team so a combination of everything but I I’m saying how many tournaments do we do we need for me it’s what we’ve talked about before it’s the globalization of football and it’s where the game’s heading i guess for you in Seattle there’s an extra interest because you got six group matches scheduled there and three of those are the Seattle Sanders games and the first game is against Bogo which is a Brazilian team which I must admit I don’t know much about but then they’ve got Atletico Madrid and PSG so I expect the the tickets I did look on the internet before to see what the price of the tickets were for Seattle and you can’t get a ticket for less than $220 so uh there is obviously some interest in in Seattle well yes obviously because you this is it’s it’s very Latino based on the West Coast here so you’re going to get those following right the way through um but the the the cost of tickets it doesn’t match the type of football that’s coming the price of the tickets it’s not like watching a Jimmy Buffett concert or a you know Taylor Swift concert where they’re in and out and gone and you can charge an arm and a leg i think they should have made it affordable for everybody to see this new tournament and Lumenfield is where the Seattle Sounders play i’m not too far away from it will I go i certainly won’t go at $200 i will not pay $200 to watch any game i’ve been there seen it done it and I’ve been part of it but if it was more reasonable I could understand why the everyday person would want to go and see those games the PSG for instance would be a a game but it depends upon what players PSG bring you know are they going to bring the European champions over or are they going to play their reserves so it’s a big question but the name PSG will draw Madrid will draw uh Man City will draw but Bafogo you’re looking and going “Well okay fine.” This reminds me so much of the North American Soccer League when it first started we had just as good and better players playing over here at that time with Georgie Best Bobby Moore Pelle Beckham Bower you’re talking about the world’s best over here it did a bit for the game but it didn’t do like what we were talking about with Messi so what messi’s playing okay fine you know re they’re trying to to they’re trying to get all the stars in teams to come over and play that to me is just looking like an all-star team coming over here to play in the tournament i think when we talk about how competitive it’s going to be I think that’s going to be down to the prize money i’d like to mention that in a second but the thing I’d like to say first is that from a TV spectacle point of view I think broadcasters at their peril or underestimate the role of the fans for me for me fans are the unpaid extras at football matches because without packed stadiums that’s what makes the Premier League so exciting as every stadium is packed and uh when we talk about pushing the ticket prices up because it’s obviously a big issue here in the UK especially my club Manchester United where we had a outrage when they tried to put the ticket prices up to 66 i say to the fans well stand your ground because without if they have empty stadiums they’ll be they’ll be paying you to come because you are literally the unpaid extras i mean in the movie business you don’t you don’t pay to be an extra you get paid i know it’s different because it’s sport but it won’t work if you’re having these matches in front of empty stadiums but what where I think the games will be competitive is because of the prize money because I’m reading today that the prize money there’s about a billion a billion dollars in prize money that’s been targeted obviously it’s not going to be equally distributed and I think some clubs probably get paid more than others to take part but according to the uh the press here in the in the UK the winners could get up as much as a hundred million dollars for winning the tournament so I think that’s the thing that will make it competitive um yes and no to me I look at it on the other side of it what stress and strain and safety factors do you come into it with players we’ve seen the big clubs all over the country in England and in other countries buy players that are 4050 million and now they’re maybe coming over to show them off so to speak you get one injury John and that’s 50 million you have to win the tournament to make it feasible for you and your club so to me it’s the welfare of the players the safety factor for the players if you’re going to bring over all these new signings that you’ve got and you play them and say you get an injury to one of these signings and he’s out for maybe a season you’ve just spent 15 million on a player that is now not playing in the bread and butter league he’s now injured he can’t perform so there’s a there’s a wow factor of yeah they’re all coming but then on the other side of it the clubs have got to look at it and say well we we might only get 5 million if we enter but do we play our best players and you know supporters and I’m for them without the supporters John you haven’t got a game and if you only get say 2,000 in a stadium as big as the Lemanfield that certainly can’t pay and that certainly won’t entice the players to perform because no top player wants to play in front of an empty crowd it’s fact you know I played in the reserves when there was one man and his dog and it’s like you wanted the game to end because it was reserve game to get your feet the lower division clubs the clubs that aren’t so known will be oh this is great for us that’s fine big clubs what are they going to do you know are they going to play their top teams or their top players and it’s going to be a toss up of a coin for me to see we’ll get the first games out the way and see exactly what it is broadcasters well that’s TV that’s another world personally I expect it’ll get more exciting and more interesting when we get down to the final 16 because you got eight groups with four teams the top two will go through to the last 16 and that’s when you’re going to get the the heavyweights taking part you know I suppose at the end of the day really it’s really down to how highly the football clubs rate the competition do they just see it as a preseason game or do they see it as a trophy that they want to win and obviously FIFA want to build this up as a major tournament that happens every four years they want to give it they want to make it into something with status but I suspect from what you’re saying really well you don’t see it as a competition with status at this time and uh I think probably the public in certainly here in the UK are probably thinking the same they just probably see it as a pre-season tournament but I think that the that acid test will come when the games start happening how competitive are they how good are the games uh and what are the stories i mean one of the stories I’m interested in certainly as a just as a football fan and just looking at how the game’s changing is how well the team from Saudi Arabia are going to do obviously they tried to sign Bruno Fernandez this week and he’s turned them down so obviously he didn’t think the tournament was that big that he wanted to leave Manchester United to go and play in the Club World Cup but then on the other hand today the Saudi team Al Halal they’ve signed In their new manager is the the manager that’s just taken Inter Milan to the uh the Champions League finally got beat by PSG so he’s obviously seen it as a big calling card and his first match is going to be against Real Madrid so when you come to cherrypicking which games to watch that’s one of the games that I’ll be looking forward to Al Hal against Real Madrid i think you’re you’re you’re spot on the nice thing that I look at it John on the other side of it as a former player is I can look at these teams that are performing in the next month and I can then look at them in their club form and look to see which players will represent their countries in the World Cup which is the biggie so it’ll be nice to be able to watch them whether they win or lose oh this is a good player this is a good player i think for clubs looking for players and players not expensive but players of value for money that show potential that could possibly be part of your squad i think on the scouting side of it I think this has got to be number one because you’re going to get all those players and number two you’re going to get clubs that won’t be able to afford the 50 60 million 100 million down bound players and they’re going to looking at players that would possibly do them a job so for the lower clubs it it’s a great advertising for those which is fabulous bigger clubs they’ve already really sorted themselves out and they’re playing in that and they’re not going to be playing in that not to win it every player wants to win something and I think you’ll find the bigger clubs like we what like we say in the World Cup the cream starts to rise to the top as the tournament starts to go it always has in the World Cup always it will do in this tournament so I’m looking to say “Yeah that Bottom Fogo has got a great right back left back left winger you know but you don’t know John because we’ve never seen these teams.” And I think what TV’s done which is great it’s brought it all together for us all to have a look at but as I said I look at it and go “Wow World Club here World Cup here where’s the game going to it’s now global as you’ve just rightfully said John it’s global support and FIFA and UEFA are all trying to chip at that dollar sign i know you worry about the players safety and playing too many matches but I must admit as a as a fan I just see that as an excuse really uh not to take it too seriously because I feel like if you’re a big club you just get a bigger squad you know United are talking about having less players next season because they’re not in Europe you know if you’re in more competitions you need more players and if you’re in more competitions you make more money so you know I think it all balances out in the end but what I’m wondering is how Premier League teams Man City and Chelsea are going to view this competition i mean Man City have not won anything this season if they go along and win the Club World Cup will they see that as a good season or will they just see it as a preseason thing that they’ve enjoyed having a nice summer and won a bit of silverware in my day you you played the European club champion against a South American club champion and that was one game put somewhere i done Tokyo in Japan that was a one-off but nobody really put any spotlight on it so to speak it was okay you’re a club champion but there could be tons of those what I’m finding here is the the club world cup here at this moment is catering for the bringing of the messes and if there’s not a space they’re going to make a space for these clubs without really having to win anything does it make a mockery yeah because you you oh we got the world club cup we’ll play that but we’ll get this player and he’ll be able to play for us over there i understand what you’re saying and uh but I think America can get away with it because they’re the host nation so you’ve got into Miami who were in there as a sort of wild card entry because of Messi but the reality is he’s you know he’s he’s done it all and how how seriously is he going to take it i would have thought younger players going to take it more seriously than Messi he’s just there as as a token player and I think the mere fact they haven’t sold the tickets for the first game it’s answered the question hasn’t it but I think people view the competition totally differently after it’s been staged because at the moment we’ve got nothing to judge it against because we’ve only had the games like what you’ve taken part in where it’s been a one-off game at the end of a season between a European team and say a South American team or an Asian team or whatever but this is basically a club version of the World Cup so in theory it could be fantastic but it’s only fantastic if the fans take part and the players take part and compete at the highest level so you know if the tournament does kick off and it is very competitive and we see some great games and then the team that wins it feels like they are the champions of the world I’m sure they will market it that they are the champions world because whoever wins it is going to milk it fantastically and I think you know for me as a Manchester United fan it’s sort of a sign really of the the how far we’re falling behind the rest of rest of the clubs in the Premier League because not only we’re nowhere near taking part in the competition but the mere fact that we’re not taking part means that financially United are falling further behind our rivals because Man City and Chelsea potentially could make up to 100 million pounds each so they’ve already had good seasons they’re both finished in the top five they’re both in the Champions League next year so the gap is getting bigger which is why I think a lot of people might be surprised by how active United seem to be trying to be in the transfer market they’ve signed the Brazilian Ka from Wolves they seem to be favorites to sign in Brian and Bow from Brenford i don’t believe any speculation till the players signed and you see him at Old Trafford but I do feel like United because they’re not in Europe next year they’ve got a bit of a shock and they’ve got to go out and spend money which they probably wouldn’t they wouldn’t have spent so much money if they qualified for Europe because it’s all about the most important people at the football club these days as we’ve talked before the accountants and you know they know financially if they get cut a drift from these competitions if they’re not taking part in club world cups they’re not taking part in your they’re not earning club they’re not earning so they’ve got to spend money to get back into the game so in my eyes I see the Club World Cup as being something to aim for for four years away from now because I I’ve got a feeling that it will do really well and I think the teams that take part in it will uh will enjoy taking part in it and I think when we get down to the last 16 it will be competitive and I expect we will see some good games i’m sure we’ll see some rubbish games as well and maybe the opening game between into Miami and the Egyptian team will be one of those games that you’ve instantly forget but I do suspect that was going to be some really interesting games between now and the end of the tournament yeah I totally agree with you i think there’s going to be good games bad games games that you don’t want to watch games you turn off the TV games that I certainly will be watching i I’m certainly going to be watching i’m not so much watching the clubs i’m watching the players that’s what I’m interested in to see what the next generation of player is going to be what type of football they’re looking at playing how you’re going to adapt that into the game is this world club going to be something that you can get ready and then it gives all the countries a good chance to look at players that they’re going to represent their countries or the young players coming through i’m going to be working with um uh one of the channels here just to give an update of of how they’re playing what they’re playing and I think it’s like you said John it’s going to be speculation all the way through this to see if it was a success if they needed to polish up on this polish up on that putting everything in place so that clubs want to play they want to be in it they want to win it which may entice the United to want to play in this tournament all players want to win this club World Cup all of them don’t care who they are they’re going to try their hardest the teams that might try the hardest to start with might be the smaller teams that you don’t expect because for them it’s going to be massive kudos it’s like the FA Cup John it’s exactly the same and to be honest with you it will be interesting to see what Brazil can throw at us what can Germany throw at us what the best of the best is around it’ll be great if it goes you know I wish it the best because I’m on the doorstep but I’ll tell you now I won’t pay that price for tickets to go and watch a game maybe the fact that it’s free to stream as well as backfiring because you pay $200 or do you watch it for free stream it on the internet and see how it goes so I suspect the opening games there will be massive audiences when it’s streamed because they’ll be interested to see what it looks like and also it’s free so people will watch it and there’s no other football on at the moment so I expect the streaming audience will be massive but the stadiums will be empty and it’s whether or not the atmosphere you know if if it lets a tournament down because there’s no atmosphere they’ll have to have a rethink but also I think there’s a lot of pressure on America to make it successful because they got the soccer World Cup the proper World Cup next year so it’s almost like a dress rehearsal in a way getting ready for the World Cup next year isn’t it i totally agree i totally agree not only are you going to see players playing for their club which they should be but you also you’re going to see the next year’s World Cup players playing for their countries that’s where they wear their heart on their sleeves but they also should wear their heart on their sleeves for the club they’re playing for as well and sometimes you get two different players like that and I know that for a fact but it’ll be nice to see i’m so pleased that I’m going to be around it’s in the season at this moment where I’m doing my soccer camps as well and it’s lovely to hear the back chat from the little guys that you know oh you’re going to watch this game oh I’m a Real Madrid fan i’m going to watch this game in the World Club Cup i like seeing the clubs that I’ve not heard of so to speak to see what they can produce and then once they produce it then you can get an assessment and then it I think once the first three or four games are out the way people are said “Yeah I’m looking forward to this game.” As everybody does their Real Madrid their Man City supporters their Barcelona supporters they’re all of a sudden saying “Yeah I’m looking forward to this game i’m going to this game.” But then again if they make it affordable I can tell you it will be a great success even bigger success when it’s priced right for people to be a go in and see their their their players that they would never normally be able to see live i must say when it comes to a FIFA World Cup a proper World Cup I watch every single game but there’s no way I’m going to watch every single game I don’t think uh of this tournament because there’s just too many games between teams that I don’t know much about but I am fascinated by the tournament itself and how it’s going to establish itself and also the politics of the game really because we’ve talked before about how the growing influence is coming from America and Saudi Arabia but for me one of the most fascinating games because I’ve not really seen much football in Saudi Arabia i mean apart from seeing a few goals of Cristiano Ronaldo he looks like he’s just running around ran a few traffic cones and knocking the ball into the net uh I haven’t really seen much of it but I was watching Ivan Tony the Brenford player who went to Saudi Arabia talk today and he was saying that don’t write it off until you’ve seen it so for me one of the most interesting games I mentioned it before was the Alal against Real Madrid game because they’ve got uh Neves they’ve got Mitravich and they’ve got this obviously got the the new manager now from Inter Milan and they’re going to be going all out it’s going to be a bit like an FA Cup third round can they giant kill Real Madrid in the first game i am fascinated to see how the Saudi Arabian team is going to do because are they really not much good as I think a lot of people in this country possibly think or are they actually starting to bridge the gap i mean Ivan Tony is saying okay they’re not Premier League standard but he’s saying they’re not too far behind you think that’s an exaggeration yes exaggeration i can tell you that you you I played in the North American Soccer League when it first started and you had the Cosmos and you had um Chicago and and you had Miami and Fort Lauderdale and and San Diego and they had all top players from all over the world and it was yeah you got the teams that got big crowds and then you got the smaller crowds you had the Cosmos that pulled in Montreal where I played there was 50 odd thousand people that would come and watch uh you go to Fort Lauderdale you get it but then you go somewhere else like Minnesota and you may not get that many that it faded away i mean that’s what it was all about in them days because what you had to do you as part of your contract you had to go out to the schools and the colleges and you used to go and play head tennis and show them what the game was all about and you know when you get four or 5,000 people watching in a Chicago stadium for instance that has 120,000 it’s like a Roman coliseum at Soldier Field you’re wondering where the crowd are and you’re on the field there playing in the North American Soccer League but the standard on the field was decent but you know it you have to be spurred on we know at Old Trafford you get spurred on by the crowd i was spurred on by the crowd mil even with their sport I got spurred on by if you if you’re doing well it it’s great to hear those voices applauding and saying well done and everything else it pushes you on you know so I hope they get a bumper crowds but please keep the prices really down so that people can go in to watch it they will put a good event on but then you’ll soon find out which stadium sold and which didn’t sell i’m looking forward to seeing some good young players i really am i like it for me i’m here i I can see it you know but would I travel for it no the crowd’s only going to roll up from the locality isn’t it so if the tickets are in demand the ticket prices go up if the ticket price is not in demand the ticket prices go down so I know for the opening match you can get a ticket for the Alley into Miami game for about $24 which is less than 20 in UK sterling so you know there’s a good chance that people might just roll up on the day i think we’ll find there are a lot of transfers at the end of this and it’s perfect because the transfer window it will be interesting to see how many players that get discovered during this tournament yes because a lot of them will end up in the Premier League for sure because that’s where a lot of the money is the first first round of matches will tell you everything everything you know ones that the clubs that want to perform clubs that are just happy to be there clubs that are trying their devil to win the game that’s that’s what the football’s all about and at club level they they can’t say they don’t know the players they’re playing with they play with them all season so very it’s Yeah I’m looking forward to it i really am i think one thing we should mention just before we we we leave is that you’ve also got a team coming over from Manchester an amateur team coming over to Seattle so they’ve timed it to come on the back of the Club World Cup I guess so uh tell us a little bit about that one before we before we say goodbye yeah we’ve got um I’ve got two or three I’ve got about four games they’re playing their 90 97th 8th 9th their 100th game abroad and uh the the last game will be against a representative Latino team in Seattle some of their best players and then I’ve got the first game which is against the Sounders reserves at um at their training ground on the 22nd of J of June um on a Sunday at 11:00 so I’m looking forward to being able to take these English boys over there and show them and and and lead them out and just say “Okay fine.” You know and these are 19 20 21 year olds that are trying to make their way in England as well so that’s going to be you know um uh really really um exciting but I’d also on another note like to um wish Chris Davis who’s organized it and been on all these trips uh all the very best he’s in um Stepping Hill at the moment hospital in Manchester in Stockport um he’s very seriously ill and u Chris was coming across he kept in touch with me and he I’ve known him for years and when he said we’d like to come for our hundth game to Seattle I said “Yeah I’ll help arrange all these games.” So I I want Chris to know that we’re all thinking of him and we send our regards and you know our best wishes go to you Chris get well my friend very nicely said i mean I did do a little piece with Chris uh to to uh to promote the fact that they were coming over here and they were looking for sponsors and uh Chris is a very nice guy he’s obviously been coming he was been touring with this team since the 60s and as you say the 100th game was time to happened in Seattle on this tour so it’s very sad that he’s going to miss the tour but uh I know everybody’s going to be thinking about him as you’ve said and that’s a beautiful message that you’ve given there Gordon so as we sign off now uh I think it’s nice time for those guys to be coming across during the Club World Cup so hopefully it is going to be a tournament that people will uh will remember and there will be some good matches there may be a few good games so uh we may hopefully we’ll talk again either after the tournament’s over or during during the tournament to see how it’s going and uh we can probably have a different perspective of how it’s all we will have a different perspective after it’s all happened so uh let’s look forward to the opening match i’d be interested to see how many people are there because at the moment as I said you can get a ticket $20 and I’d like to be able I’d like to also echo my views on on we’re trying to uh get yourself John over here with this tour um so any sponsors that could come up uh and help us with this one uh we want to record it and do what we’re doing now and put on um a video when you can actually see the boys coming over and playing the games and we’d like to bring Johnny over with us as well so anybody there that could help out we’d be absolutely delighted and as I said I’ve always got room for John and um you know as long as he hasn’t got too many cameras and videos with him he’s all right but I would just like to say if anybody there could sponsor us on this one um that you’ll be I’ll be most grateful and that’s from myself Gordon thanks Gordon i it will be very much lastminute.com but my camera the camera bag’s ready i’ve got two cameras a couple of lenses microphones and I got me passport up to date so uh I’m ready to hop on the next plane if the money comes in i’m not too optimistic because we’re right at the last minute but uh I am available if uh a sponsor comes in but uh either way it’s a beautiful story and I hope they do get to uh have a nice match for the 100th game and I’m sure that even if I’m not there there’s going to be some local hopefully there’ll be some local coverage but maybe with the all the attention beyond the Club World Cup there won’t be enough media space to go around so maybe that’s another reason why the sponsor needs to get me over there to guarantee that it’s not lost absolutely absolutely history of the Club World Cup but anyway Gordon it’s that would be fantastic John yeah I’m looking forward to getting over to Seattle can you tell me so much about it and uh I feel like I know all about it it’s a it’s a beautiful place and as I said it’s um u something that you got to savor for yourself something that you need to do i mean it’s a beautiful place it’ll be a pleasure for me to show you around and take you out onto the trails and up to the mountains and I’ll take you to the volcano um you can have a look at that but we ain’t going to get too close i know you’ve got some bears that sometimes come around your garden so I don’t want to get too close to those bears but I have made animal films in the past uh also I need to show you my soccer skills hold on a minute i’ve got I’ve got to go i’ve got to go quickly hold on a minute someone’s calling me i got a message from Steve GoP actually saying it was a crap penalty and a crap goalkeeper but I did score in front of the Stford end that’s true yeah oh dear yeah oh dear but no it’d be great to have you on board let’s keep our fingers crossed and as I said I’m looking forward to this World Club Cup okay smashing hopefully have some good games speak to you next time Gordon all right John brilliant
