Why the expanded FIFA Club World Cup is worth trying - ESPN

Make no mistake about it: as a concept, the first-ever 32-team FIFA Club World Cup is good for the sport, from pretty much any vantage point. The entire sport rests on the club game and yet there was virtually zero opportunity for teams from different continents to square off against each other in competitive matches. In a globalized world dominated by the big European clubs from the big European leagues, it's a chance for the rest of the world to showcase what they do.

«We're there to compete, but also to showcase what African excellence looks like,» said Tlhopie Motsepe, president of South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns, who will play their inaugural game against South Korea's Ulsan on June 17.

«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.»

Five years ago, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he wanted to make the sport more inclusive and pave the way when «at least 50 clubs from all continents» are «at a top competitive level.» We can be as cynical as we like about his motives, but what can't be argued is that clubs beyond the European heavyweights getting to compete is a first, tiny (but crucial) step toward that vision.

Maybe the system is shot; maybe the hurdles are too great, and nobody outside the 15 or so clubs that constitute the European elite will ever be a global juggernaut. (That is, without bankrolling enormous — and unsustainable — losses, like the Saudi Pro League clubs are trying to do.) But without a global club tournament, they definitely won't get there. That's the point.

Yet you don't have to ignore the negatives of this tournament. It comes at the end of a long European season with many