Most of the talk about the FIFA Club World Cup has been about fixture congestion and the burden on players, to what degree European clubs are going to take it seriously after a grueling season, and the challenges FIFA have had in attracting sponsors and broadcast partners, with a media rights deal only arriving in early December. Less discussed in mainstream media is what this means for teams outside of Europe and South America.
We take it for granted that the World Cup (men’s and women’s) include national sides from around the world. In 2026, more than half of the participants will come from outside of Europe and South America. But club football is different. There is almost no opportunity for clubs from different continents to face each other in competitive tournaments.
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Some view this expanded Club World Cup as a pure money and influence grab from FIFA and president Gianni Infantino, but one of the side effects of expanding to 32 teams is that clubs from around the world will get the sort of showcase they never thought they’d have.
“For us, it’s very simple,” said Tlhopie Motsepe, chairman of South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, one of four African clubs who have qualified. “Our club motto is: ‘The sky is the limit.’ We don’t have an animal or a football on our crest — we have a hand that’s pointed up at the sky, because we believe the sky is the limit. As an African club founded in the townships of South Africa during apartheid, we want to inspire people and let them know there shouldn’t be a limit on what you want to achieve, and you should never let where you come from determine where you are going and what you can achieve.”
Mamelodi Sundowns may be one of Africa’s powerhouse clubs, but their annual revenue is $38 million, and they’ll be squaring off in the group stage with Borussia Dortmund, who earn 13 times as much. At some point, they might face Real Madrid, who clock in at 25 times their revenue. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that more revenue equals more budget to pay salaries, which equals stronger teams.
Motsepe is under no illusions, but his club isn’t going to lie down either.
“We’re there to compete, but also to showcase what African excellence looks like,” he said. “If we come back and people say ‘Wow, do you remember the team from South Africa? Remember the way they played?’ That’s exciting for me. That would be success.”
There’s the sporting side of it: measuring yourself against clubs from the other side of the planet, ones you normally only see in two dimensions on a screen. There’s the exposure side of it: having people around the world seeing Mamelodi Sundowns and their famous (in Africa) Brazilian-inspired jerseys. And, sure, there’s a purely financial element, too: FIFA will pay out $1 billion in prize money to the 32 clubs.
It won’t be based just on performance. More than half the pot gets allocated via a “participation fee,” which guarantees European clubs up to $38.19 million while African clubs like Sundowns will get $9.55 million. The rest is based on how they do in the tournament, but if they get out of their group — they’re with Borussia Dortmund, South Korea’s Ulsan HD and Brazil’s Fluminense — and, say, lose in the Round of 16, they can hope to bring home north of $20 million. That’s more than half their annual revenue, which is already among the highest in Africa.
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And, indeed, that’s been one of the concerns. Clubs who qualify for the Club World Cup may be minnows compared to the likes of Real Madrid or Bayern, but they are super clubs who dominate their region. Dishing out this huge prize money may end up only increasing the competitive imbalance in their part of the world.
“I can’t speak for all African teams, but that hasn’t really been the narrative in our country, that now we’ll get all this money and be even wealthier and more dominant,” said Motsepe. “It’s definitely a significant amount of money for us. Money that we can use to change our community, our academies, our infrastructure. … We don’t have our own stadium, for example.
“But I think it’s also worth mentioning that in Africa we have a philosophy called Ubuntu,” he added. “It means ‘I am, because you are.’ It’s a philosophy of oneness. Everybody is connected in the African community. We see it as a wonderful opportunity to better South African football, to challenge other teams to be better, to make sure our future is better than our past.”
What does a better future look like? Africa arguably produces more footballing talent than any other part of the world, with the possible exception of Europe and South America. Invariably, most of that talent leaves the continent as soon possible, usually after a player’s 18th birthday, and mostly to Europe, where salaries — even in lesser leagues or lower divisions — are significantly higher.
Can African football grow to the point where it retains its top stars or at least retains them until they’re 21 or 22 and can fetch a transfer fee, rather than losing them for virtually nothing at 18? Motsepe is realistic.
“I always tell [young players] that we want to see them go overseas, we want to see them play in the top leagues to make us proud,” he said. “We feel that way even for players that aren’t South African. Seeing Mohamed Salah have the season he’s had makes me proud and excited. He’s from the same continent as me, and he’s competing for the Ballon d’Or.”
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But Motsepe says that, especially in countries known for exporting the best African talent — like Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal — investing in the academies is still worthwhile to develop the game.
“The players that are just below that top level, maybe they stay and develop the league and create more entertaining football, a better product,” he said. “I think of Spain. They export many top players, but they continue to have a top league and a deep pool of talent.”
“So maybe we shouldn’t necessarily fight to retain the talented players who are good enough to go, but be confident enough to know that we have so much depth of talent. Because we do. Africa has so much, we just need the right facilities to make sure that we’re equipping them.”
By this point, it feels as if Motsepe is speaking not just for his club, but for Egypt’s Al Ahly, Morocco’s Wydad AC and Tunisia’s Esperance de Tunis, Africa’s other participants at the Club World Cup. They too are facing the same challenges: Big fish in Africa’s small pond of resources who are diving into the ocean to take on the European whales. They’re also hoping this tournament can provide the building blocks of something that will last.
