FIFA made a major splash on the global club calendar last year by launching a revamped Club World Cup tournament. Chelsea emerged victorious, and FIFA rewarded those involved. The governing body allocated a total prize fund of $1 billion to generate early interest in the tournament but initially failed to attract significant commercial support.
Broadcasters appeared disinterested until the world soccer federation was rescued by DAZN’s $1 billion acquisition of global media rights to the tournament, supported by funding from Saudi Arabia.
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In 2026, FIFA again turned to DAZN for media rights coverage of the Women’s Champions Cup, with the OTT platform offering a global free-to-air feed to fans worldwide, supporting FIFA’s goal of building excitement and viewership for its newest event. Unlike the men’s Club World Cup, however, FIFA excluded DAZN’s global coverage in the four home markets of participating teams.
This led to agreements with Sky Sports in the UK, CazéTV in Brazil, and TelevisaUnivision in the United States. No domestic broadcaster was officially announced in Morocco. The rights process highlighted broader hesitation in the global market, with limited interest in FIFA’s latest tournament addition, and partners announced only 13 days before the tournament began in England.
From a sponsorship perspective, the new tournament can again be linked to broader market challenges. The Champions Cup announced its first tournament-focused deal—naming Kynisca as its presenting partner—on 22 January 2026. The tournament’s initial partnerships grew to only three deals by the start of the competition. Visa continued its commitment to women’s soccer by joining the competition’s portfolio.
The financial services brand has built a long-term strategy around supporting women’s soccer since 2018, when it became the first-ever sole sponsor of UEFA women’s soccer, and again with FIFA in 2021. The third partner added to the Champions Cup was Aramco, a brand with a complicated relationship with women’s soccer.
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By GlobalDataIn 2024, more than 100 women’s soccer players wrote an open letter to FIFA urging it to end its partnership with the Saudi Arabia-based energy company. The estimated annual revenue from these deals to FIFA is $2.25 million.
The Champions Cup tournament staged its final four matches in London in 2026. Both semi-finals were played on the same day at Brentford Community Stadium, with the third-place playoff and the final held at Emirates Stadium. Attendance peaked at the final between Arsenal and Corinthians, with 25,031 spectators.
While it is important for marquee matches to be played at the biggest and best stadiums available, the final drew only a 41.2% capacity crowd at the Emirates. This level of unused capacity is particularly notable given the recent success of the Arsenal Women’s team in attracting the highest regular-season audiences in the Women’s Super League.
Attendance at the final was below Arsenal’s average attendance in the Women’s Super League (WSL) last season (34,110), with all matches played at the Emirates Stadium. The team drew a season-high of 56,700 for its match against Tottenham Hotspur, highlighting the potential to attract more fans to Arsenal matches in North London.
As with last year’s men’s FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA invested significant revenue in its prize funds to help drive interest and competitiveness among participating teams. The 2026 Champions Cup paid out $3.95 million across the six teams involved (including the two teams that did not reach the semi-finals of the competition in London).
Of this total, $2.3 million was awarded to the inaugural champions, Arsenal. To illustrate the tournament’s financial appeal, Arsenal earned just €500,000 ($590,000) for winning the 2024/25 UEFA Women’s Champions League title.
Although the Champions Cup is a much smaller tournament in terms of matches, teams, and dates, its prize fund pales in comparison with FIFA’s investment in its new men’s tournament in 2025. The FIFA Club World Cup paid the champions, Chelsea, £85 million ($115.5 million). Meanwhile, all 32 competing clubs were guaranteed £28 million ($38 million) from the participation fee alone.
FIFA plans to launch a women’s version of the Club World Cup in 2028, which is expected to feature 16 teams from around the world. To match the men’s investment, FIFA would need to invest $500 million in the 2028 tournament. However, history suggests this is unlikely, as a gap remains on the path toward true equality in global soccer.
Although the new Women’s Club World Cup is still two years away, FIFA has faced criticism over the proposed addition to the calendar. The criticism has focused on the suggested January 2028 dates. Clubs have raised concerns about the potential impact on domestic scheduling, with the proposed window expected to affect up to five rounds of matches in the Women’s Super League.
Despite all the initial lack of interest in its new tournaments, it appears FIFA is sticking by its greater investment in club soccer. Despite initial reservations with these tournaments, commercial streams will likely grow for FIFA as the tournaments build their status and popularity within the global soccer community.
For FIFA, its greater involvement is about long-term success in boosting revenue streams outside the FIFA World Cup every four years.
