MetLife hosts a match, but few notice

This is an abridged version; the full article is available on our ‘It Was Always… Football’ Substack page:

I’m writing this from New York City, where later today Chelsea play Fluminense in a Club World Cup semi-final at MetLife Stadium. It’s a huge fixture on paper, but you’d struggle to find anyone here who knows it’s happening. There’s been no real fanfare. No advertising push. No sense of anticipation on the streets.

I did spot one banner in Times Square, high above the lights and crowds, but that’s all I’ve seen. No posters on the subway, no chatter in the cafés, and no build-up in the media. For a global tournament backed by FIFA, it all feels strangely low profile.

Ticket costs still a major barrier

FIFA slashed ticket prices at the weekend. Some were reduced to as low as $13. Just days earlier, they were asking nearly $500 for the same seats. That alone tells you something about their desperation to avoid empty rows.

But even now, with all the markdowns, a family of four still faces a sizeable bill. The cheapest available are way up in the third tier at $60 each. Decent seats remain well above $400 per person. Add in food, drinks, and the travel out to East Rutherford, and you begin to see why the stadium will have swathes of empty space today.

Atmosphere missing from a global stage

Real Madrid brought in a big crowd against Dortmund, but most other matches have struggled. Fluminense versus Ulsan barely filled a third of the ground. Even fixtures involving Palmeiras and Porto failed to attract big numbers. FIFA may have expected American fans to flock to this, but the appetite simply isn’t there.

The Club World Cup is being treated like a blockbuster. But football cannot be sold as spectacle without first building identity and roots. That’s what is missing here.

Worry signs for World Cup 2026

Next summer’s World Cup will be played across the US, Canada, and Mexico. FIFA will need to learn from this. Pricing must be fair from the start. Atmosphere needs to be grown, not assumed. And if this week is anything to go by, they have a long way to go.