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Lessons From the Club World Cup Ahead of the FIFA World Cup
From the 15th of June to the 13th of July 2025, soccer’s best clubs from across the globe competed together in the Club World Cup for the very first time. It gave us a flavor of the international talent we can look forward to seeing at the 2026 World Cup when it starts on the 11th of June.
Just like we’ll see in summer, the action came thick and fast at the Club World Cup. We were treated to 63 matches packed in just under a month and just shy of 200 goals. And we were able to witness some of the sport’s top global talent compete almost exactly a year out from the World Cup.
So, what can we learn from the Club World Cup ahead of the kick off of the international version on the 11th of June?
Huge Global Interest
The 2025 Club World Cup earned huge amounts of interest across the globe with an audience of 2.7 billion across the tournament. The competition featured a similar format to the Champion’s League but with teams from each continent.
The 32 slots were divided across the governing bodies of each continent with UEFA given 12 and CONMEBOL given 6, for example. Teams were selected for the competition based on their performances in their national leagues over the four years prior.
Fans in South and Central America
The addition of global teams, such as Argentinian teams Boca Juniors and River Plate, paid off for organizers by earning the competition hoards of international fans. Boca Juniors’ match against Benfica became the most watched club game in Argentinian football history. The competition was also popular in Brazil with the Flamengo versus Bayern Munich game drawing in 37.3 million viewers, a record for the channel which aired the match.
The other Argentinian side, River Plate, were equally well-supported with a whopping 52% of the country tuning in to watch them against Mexico’s C.F Monterrey. It’s a good sign for soccer in the region ahead of the 2026 World Cup which will be jointly hosted between the USA, Canada and Mexico. Monterrey is set to be one of the three Mexican host cities alongside Guadalajara and Mexico City and all games in the country are projected to sellout.
For affiliates, the global audience of both contests emphasizes the importance of localizing content. Tailoring articles and offers to different regions will be crucial to attracting fans from around the world.
Thorough Preparation Essential for Affiliates
The 2026 World Cup presents an enormous opportunity for sports betting affiliates with 5 billion fans engaging with the previous iteration of sport’s biggest contest. In order to stand out in an intensely competitive market, affiliates need a clear plan ahead of time. A last-minute strategy with lackluster content will be drowned out in a sea of bad football puns and repetitive articles.
Instead, it’s essential to prioritize a flow of content written by experts who are just excited about the competition as fans! Ensuring that authors have bios highlighting their soccer experience will also help when it comes to those SEO-boosting EEAT signals. Alongside that, signposting pages with titles like ‘best betting offers for the World Cup’ and including clear calls to action are important for conversion.
Kick Off Times a Concern for European Fans
Although the Club World Cup drew billions of fans, it wasn’t without its critics. Many European fans criticized the format of the tournament, which was played in the US, as time zone differences meant games were scheduled after midnight. They’ll encounter the same problem at the World Cup which means many fans will be interacting with sports betting late at night. It’s important to consider this when localizing content and promoting responsible gambling.
Other fans picked up on the lacking atmosphere at some games where crowds were small, especially in the group stages. It wasn’t all that surprising given the distance that fans from Europe, Africa and Asia would have to travel to support their teams. Four games in the tournament failed to draw in 10,000 strong crowds and viewing numbers were as little as half those attracted for Champions League games involving the same teams.
Pricing Concerns
There was also criticism about the cost for fans attending some of the Club World Cup matches. Organizers used a dynamic pricing structure so ticket costs started off high. A ticket to watch Chelsea’s semi-final against Fluminense would have originally set fans back around $350. However, as sales struggled ahead of the game that dropped to $10 a week before kick off.
There’s been similar concerns about the cost for fans attending the 2026 World Cup. The recently released tickets for the final cost as much as an eye-watering $10,990. The same ticket at the 2022 Qatar World Cup was a meager $1,604 in comparison. That’s contributed to rumors that there’s a significant gap between the projected World Cup ticket sales posted by FIFA and actual sales of around 1.5 million.
While international fans might not have flocked to the Club World Cup, the FIFA World Cup still remains sport’s biggest contest. Despite some astronomical ticket costs, it should sell out, but FIFA will have to be careful with pricing to ensure there’s not a repeat of the Club World Cup.
The Potential of Social Meda
Social media content referencing football gets a considerable boost in engagement during major tournaments and it doesn’t get bigger than the World Cup. FIFA’s social media channels saw an unprecedented 15 billion impressions and 5 billion engagements during the 2022 tournament.
Fans enjoy interacting with content across platforms such as Instagram, X and TikTok throughout the contest. Affiliates can make the most of this through posting their own carefully targeted content. It’s important to strike a balance between planned posts and reactive ones which utilize the iconic moments of the tournament. A well-planned social media strategy can help to increase engagement and drive traffic for affiliates.
The Key Lessons from the Club World Cup
For affiliates, the 2025 Club World Cup demonstrated the size of the opportunity presented by major international soccer events. To make the most of this potential, it’s important for affiliates to have a clear plan ahead of the 2026 World Cup which features expert-driven content tailored geographically.
There will be fans from all around the globe tuning in to watch sport’s biggest stage, so it’s essential to take into consideration different search behaviors and preferences. Make the most of your author expertise by outlining it through bios for strong EEAT signals. The Club World Cup showed us just how competitive the market for sports betting in soccer can be, so it’s more important than ever to get your strategy spot on before the start of the World Cup.
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