The Club World Cup kicks off this weekend in Atlanta. Beginning on Saturday night in the US, two of 32 teams will open the expanded Club World Cup. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has hailed the competition as the pinnacle of club football, though concerns about ticket sales and widespread interest remain. At the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia—an $1.8bn megastructure seating 75,000 and featuring a distinctive pinwheel retractable roof—excitement is undeniable. The Peach State has become the hub of the domestic game, with the US Soccer Federation relocating to Atlanta.
The stadium will host three group matches: Chelsea’s opener against Los Angeles FC, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami versus Palmeiras, and Manchester City’s second game against Al Ain, as well as two round of 16 matches and one quarter-final. Home to the Atlanta Falcons NFL team, the MLS club Atlanta United, and a future host of the 2028 Super Bowl, the stadium is part of AMBSE, owned by Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank.
Dietmar Exler, the group’s chief operating officer and former president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, tells City AM that “50 per cent of the events we do at the stadium are football related”. Blank, an American self-made entrepreneur, connected with the sport after watching his son play at school in the late 2000s. Exler notes two trends in football: Atlanta’s diverse metropolitan area, which includes a substantial population from Middle and South America where football is a key sport, and the growing popularity of football among schoolchildren in the US, particularly girls. The national team’s success has fueled this growth, as evidenced by over 50,000 tickets sold for the SheBelieves Cup.
President Donald Trump’s travel bans have not visibly affected this year’s Club World Cup, but next year’s World Cup—co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico—may be contentious due to Trump’s past comments about his co-hosts. Exler is optimistic about the Club World Cup’s success, praising FIFA for recognising the flaws in the old competition format. He highlights the possibility of exciting matches, such as a potential clash between a Brazilian and an Argentinian team.
Exler references Nelson Mandela’s famous quote about sport’s power to change lives when discussing the World Cup, adding that Georgia is a welcoming state and a gateway to the south, calling it “the friendliest business state”. Whether fans will be captivated by the Club World Cup will be clearer in the coming weeks. England’s representatives, Chelsea and Manchester City, are expected to perform well, playing at the impressive Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The presence of these teams and other elites in iconic US venues could be a prelude to next year’s main event. For Atlanta and its dual-sport stadium, the time to shine on the world stage is now.
