The Club World Cup is a rigorous test of the theory that all publicity is good publicity, but Fifa’s bloated mid-summer jamboree could yet make waves for all the right reasons.
The tournament has attracted more misgivings than its 64-game schedule and many fanbases will be just one torn hamstring or ruptured ACL away from complete meltdown.
Any discussion has to start by asking do we really need it? Is a month-long global event tacked on to the end of the season and less than a year away from the World Cup what football, its fans and players want?
Fifa obviously thinks so. Broadcasters weren’t so sure with the governing body struggling to sell the TV rights until DAZN rode to the rescue with an outlandish $1billion (£787million) bid, two days before Saudi Arabia was confirmed as the host of the 2034 Fifa World Cup.
Weeks later Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was confirmed to have invested in DAZN to the tune of – have a guess – $1bn.
The Saudi PIF is also a tournament partner and has helped fund the $1bn prize pot which will ensure clubs take the event a lot more seriously than feared.
Having struggled to attract a TV audience Fifa has also faced problems filling the stands, with eye-watering prices partly to blame for apparently sluggish ticket sales.
Their answer has been to rely heavily on star names, controversially awarding a place to 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield winners Inter Miami to ensure Lionel Messi is on the castlist, while president Gianni Infantino continued to hint at free agent Cristiano Ronaldo’s possible involvement until the superstar ruled himself out.
Like a Hollywood studio revamping old classics and stringing out tired franchises, Fifa appears to lack confidence in football’s rising stars but it is a new cast of characters who could make their super tournament a genuine success.
Paris Saint-Germain have just blown Europe away in the Champions League and Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele, Nuno Mendes et al will be in the States this summer.
Thanks to the convoluted qualification criteria Lamine Yamal’s Barcelona and Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool will not but Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Cole Palmer are all capable of taking centre stage.
Throw in left-field characters like Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns, and rarely seen matches between elite clubs on either side of the Atlantic and we might just have a party.
There has been controversy aplenty and scepticism remains well placed. But the football, as is often the case, might just save the day.