Fifa to give $1bn as Europe nears Club World Cup deal

Fifa is set to give more than $1bn in prize money to clubs participating in the Club World Cup as the European Club Association (ECA), negotiating on behalf of clubs in Europe including Chelsea and Manchester City, closes in on a deal.

Multiple sources have confirmed to BBC Sport that the 32 clubs involved, including 12 European clubs, will split what is anticipated to be the biggest prize in club football across a seven-match format.

It is partly based on the $1bn exclusive global TV deal agreed with sports streaming service DAZN in December.

The inaugural tournament, taking place in the United States, begins on 14 June and finishes with the final in New Jersey on 13 July.

On an individual club basis, those involved will receive a participation fee for entering the group stage and performance fees based on progression to later rounds.

Multiple senior sources have explained that Fifa and the ECA are also in talks about bringing in substantial solidarity payments for non-participating clubs, which is expected to be followed by similar distributions for clubs in Africa, Asia and the Americas at a later date.

“The Fifa Club World Cup will not only be the pinnacle of club football, but also a vivid demonstration of solidarity that will benefit clubs at large to a scale that no other competition has ever done,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

“All revenue generated by the tournament will be distributed to the participating clubs, and via club solidarity across the world, as Fifa will not keep a single dollar. Fifa’s reserves, which are there for global football development, will remain untouched.”

The ECA is yet to comment publicly about the negotiations.

The ECA is expected to gain a higher revenue share than clubs from other continents because of the importance of their clubs to the competition, and because those members will be unable to play lucrative overseas pre-season tours.

Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Paris St-Germain, Inter Milan, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Porto and FC Salzburg are all represented by the ECA.

Real Madrid are not part of the ECA because of their ongoing support for a breakaway European Super League.

The ECA has committed to supporting the Club World Cup until at least 2030 through a memorandum of understanding signed in 2023.

Multiple sources from outside Europe have expressed their support both publicly and privately for the competition, although they remain in the dark about how much they will receive for participation.

Infantino said in December: “Whatever Fifa does, [it] has to be global.

“[Fifa] has to involve the globe. [Fifa] has to give opportunities and chances to [everyone] all over the world, and the Club World Cup is doing exactly that.”

There will be a Fifa Council meeting to update members on the progress of the tournament, which will be hosted in 12 stadiums across 11 US cities during the month-long summer event.

What’s the view outside of Europe?

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is understood to be negotiating on behalf of the African club interest. Chairman of the African Club Association (ACA) and board member of the CAF Hersi A. Said told BBC Sport: “Africa is represented by four clubs Al-Ahly, Wydad AC, ES Tunis and Mamelodi Sundowns.

“To start with, we are happy with four and we will push to get more clubs in the next editions. To be honest, we don’t have much information on TV rights or solidarity payments but we would love the same platform to discuss this. It would be ideal if the ACA was involved in these matters.”

Representatives of multiple clubs in North America and Asia have been contacted and expressed a broadly positive view despite having little knowledge of negotiations around revenues.

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