FIFA president Gianni Infantino believes this summer’s Club World Cup remains the most successful competition in the world.
The competition was criticized for stretching demands on elite players and has been played out in high temperatures in the United States, raising concerns for the health of those involved.
However, Infantino described it as the most successful club competition in the world while revealing the amount of money made so far.
Infantino, who has led world football’s governing body since 2016, claims the newly-expanded summer competition has generated more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in revenue, which he says is worth “$33m (£24m) per match”.
But speaking at Trump Tower in New York on the eve of Sunday’s final between Chelsea and Paris St-Germain (20:00 BST), Infantino said: “The golden era of global club football has started.
“We can say definitely that this Fifa Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success. Of course, there are a lot of positives, some negatives.
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“We respect everyone’s opinion. It has been successful. We have had over 2.5 million in the stadium. That’s around 40,000 spectators per match – there is no league in the world with that number, except the Premier League which, of course, has home teams and these are neutral stadiums.
“We heard financially it would not work but I can say we generated over $2bn in revenues with this competition. We earned on average $33m per match. There is no other cup competition in the world that comes close to $33m per match.
“It is already the most successful club competition in the world with all different measurements.”
The Metlife Stadium in New Jersey, which will host Sunday’s final, has seen temperatures as high as 38C in recent days.
