Chelsea lifted the trophy, but it’s the questions off the pitch that may have the greatest long-term significance.
With Sunday’s resounding victory over Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final at MetLife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey, Chelsea became the first European champion of FIFA’s expanded 32-team Club World Cup. However, despite the glitz of the tournament, which spanned over four weeks and multiple U.S. cities, the concerns that emerged off the field may prove to be its most lasting legacy as North America prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
From oppressive heat to travel nightmares and questionable playing surfaces, the 2025 Club World Cup offered FIFA an unfiltered look at the potential pitfalls of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event across three vast countries — the United States, Mexico and Canada — next summer.
Weather takes center stage
More than any tactical storyline or individual performance, the weather was the defining issue of the tournament. Early afternoon matches in cities like Philadelphia and Miami subjected players to dangerous heat and humidity.
FIFA faces a tough scheduling dilemma ahead of the 2026 World Cup. With four games per day early in the tournament and up to six during the group stage’s final rounds, late kickoffs in climate-controlled stadiums won’t be feasible for every match. Fairness will be in question if some nations play in ideal conditions while others wilt in the sun.
Travel and infrastructure under strain
The Club World Cup also revealed the logistical challenges of hosting games across the continental U.S. Teams and media battled delayed flights, congested highways and public transportation gaps — issues that could worsen next year with 48 national teams and hundreds of thousands of traveling fans.
Weather-related flight delays disrupted Real Madrid’s semifinal preparations. Fans and journalists often arrived late to matches, including a widely reported fiasco at the Rose Bowl where several reporters missed the first half of PSG vs. Atlético Madrid due to gridlocked traffic.
Even with official transport options, including shuttle buses and special trains, getting in and out of venues like MetLife, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium and AT&T Stadium in Dallas proved unpredictable and, at times, chaotic.
Surface tension: the turf war continues
Player complaints about pitch quality were widespread. Five of the venues — including Seattle’s Lumen Field and Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium — typically feature artificial turf and require last-minute natural grass installations. FIFA insists all 2026 matches will be played on natural grass and so experimented with transporting refrigerated Bermuda grass to upgrade the fields in the U.S. But with several stadiums featuring fixed roofs or poor sunlight access, sustaining high-quality surfaces for a month-long tournament remains a major concern.
A physically and mentally draining toll
The tournament schedule raised additional alarms. With many clubs arriving just weeks after grueling seasons, signs of fatigue were everywhere. All of the four Brazilian teams (Flamengo, Palmeiras, Fluminense, Botafogo) came in off 70-match campaigns, while Chelsea and Manchester City logged 57 each. The quick turnaround left players vulnerable to injury, and many stars now head into the 2025-26 season in August without the usual summer recovery period.
MLS players, midseason and relatively fresh, had a physical advantage, but for Europe’s elite — and national teams eyeing the 2026 World Cup — the toll of the Club World Cup may be felt in the months ahead.
Lessons for the future
For FIFA, the expanded Club World Cup served as a dry run. But the experiment exposed systemic cracks that must be addressed before next summer’s 48-team World Cup that kicks off on June 11, 2026.
To make the tournament a success, organizers will need to prioritize player welfare, optimize travel logistics, improve pitch conditions and, most crucially, adapt schedules that prioritize fairness over television ratings.
The Club World Cup may be over, but the real work has only just begun.
c.cowles@dailyutahchronicle.com
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