Start of the Club World Cup in Miami: Working against a political backdrop

Miami. If you look out at the water, the Club World Cup will be passing by at some point. Friday afternoon, on the shores of Miami Bay, which is actually called Biscayne Bay. There's little to no indication that one day later, this Saturday at 8 p.m. local time (2 a.m. CEST), the mega-tournament conceived by FIFA President Gianni Infantino will open in Miami with the match between Inter Miami and Al Ahly from Cairo.

You don't see anything of what you usually see at major football events. No flags or pennants from the participants, no fan groups getting ready for the spectacle in the pub, not even jerseys. Instead, you do see a young man in a Deichbrand T-shirt ("Festival on the North Sea"). And on the water, a boat is making its way around, advertising the opening match ("It's showtime").

From what we know, the measure is urgently needed because interest in the game at the Hard Rock Stadium, where the Miami Dolphins usually play their NFL games, is so low that FIFA recently tried to sell tickets at bargain prices or even for free.

You have to look closely in Miami to spot any references to the Club World Cup—unlike the last real World Cup, the one for national teams, which took place in Qatar in 2022. In November and December three years ago, the capital Doha was the extreme example of how a place can visually merge with a sporting event—players on giant posters on the walls of high-rise buildings, the flags of the participating countries as light installations on the skyline.

The Inter Miami team with superstar Lionel Messi (center) is preparing.

Source: IMAGO/Anadolu Agency

In Miami, you look at the skyscrapers of downtown and eventually spot Lionel Messi, the Club World Cup star employed by Inter Miami, as a beer advertisement. In sports shops, of course, there are Messi jerseys in all sizes. But they're probably more a testament to the Messi hype in Miami than to the interest in the Club World Cup.

The fact that there is little sign of the tournament one day before the opening game is in keeping with the fact that the USA has other concerns at the moment than the question of which club team might be the best in world football.

In Los Angeles—one of the host cities for the Club World Cup—President Donald Trump deployed the military against demonstrators, and Mayor Karen Bass imposed a nighttime curfew. Protests against Trump's immigration policy are scheduled for Saturday across the country. The issue also has implications for the Club World Cup: Recently, reports circulated that the International Deportation Service (ICE) could search for suspected illegal immigrants in the vicinity of the games.

Despite the political backdrop, the venue for the opening match is getting ready for the big day. On Friday, work is still underway all around the Hard Rock Stadium. Volunteers are installing signage for spectators, honored guests, and media personnel, and the sound system is being rehearsed – so loudly that the music from the speakers penetrates the walls of the hall during Javier Mascherano's press conference.

The Argentinian Mascherano, 41, played professionally for Liverpool FC and FC Barcelona, ​​among others, and has been coach of Inter Miami since the end of last year. At his press conference the day before the opening match, one might think that football is actually taking place in a bubble, cut off from the real world.

Coach Mascherano only has to answer coaching questions: questions about the personnel situation, the pitch at the Hard Rock Stadium, Inter Miami's chances at the Club World Cup, and Lionel Messi's influence on the club, the city, and football in the USA as a whole. The political situation in the host country of the Club World Cup is not a topic of discussion in Mascherano's pre-match briefing.