The newly reformed 2025 Club World Cup by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) attracted global attention with its astronomical prize pool, and the team that generated the most revenue in this tournament was Chelsea from England.
Chelsea triumphed in the final held on the 14th (Korean time) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA, defeating Paris Saint-Germain (France) 3-0.
With this achievement, Chelsea took home a total revenue of 84 million pounds (about 156.2 billion won), including the championship prize.
FIFA prepared a total of $1 billion (about 1.4 trillion won) in prizes, divided into a participation compensation of $525 million (about 724 billion won) and performance-based bonuses of $475 million (about 655.1 billion won). A total of 32 teams participated in this tournament.
Participation compensation was distributed based on continental affiliation and the European Football Association (UEFA) club coefficient ranking. European clubs received between $12.81 million (about 17.6 billion won) and $38.19 million (about 52.6 billion won) each. South American clubs received $15.21 million (about 20.9 billion won), while clubs from Asia, Africa, North America, and Oceania received $9.55 million (about 13.1 billion won).
Runners-up Paris Saint-Germain earned 78.4 million pounds (about 145.8 billion won). Real Madrid received 67 million pounds (about 124.6 billion won), which only accounted for 4% of its annual revenue of 910 million pounds (about 1.6794 trillion won).
There were notable cases as well. Auckland City from New Zealand, despite losing all its matches in the group stage, earned 3.3 million pounds (about 6.1 billion won). This amount is seven times the club's total revenue of 488,000 pounds (about 900 million won) for 2024. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire warned, "This revenue could threaten the competitive balance of the New Zealand league," adding, "If these funds lead to player acquisitions, the gap in competitiveness could widen significantly."
This tournament also had a direct impact on the transfer market. Borussia Dortmund (Germany) earned 57.9 million pounds (about 107.7 billion won) after reaching the quarter-finals, representing 65% of its summer transfer budget. They covered the transfer fee of 27 million pounds (about 50.2 billion won) for Jude Bellingham from Sunderland with the prize money.
Chelsea also supplemented its finances with the tournament revenue. Although it spent a total of 198 million pounds (about 368.3 billion won) in the summer transfer market, it retrieved 84 million pounds (about 156.2 billion won) through the Club World Cup, reducing its financial burden. Manchester City earned 38 million pounds (about 70.6 billion won) despite being eliminated in the round of 16, offsetting the transfer fee of 31 million pounds (about 57.6 billion won) for Ryan Ainiu brought in from Wolverhampton.
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