Update: Major Man City Club World Cup decision confirmed after $1bn deal News

Latest Manchester City news ahead of this summer’s inaugural FIFA Club World Cup

Manchester City’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign will be broadcast live on Channel 5 this summer after a deal was struck with DAZN.

Pep Guardiola’s side will travel to the United States in mid-June to play in FIFA’s new prime club competition. City, who won the Club World Cup back in December 2023, have been drawn up against Moroccan side Wydad AC, Abu Dhabi-based Al Ain and Italian outfit Juventus in their group.

According to The Guardian, the revamped Club World Cup will be shown live on Channel 5. It’s reported that the free-to-air broadcaster reached a sublicensing agreement for the UK with DAZN.

As part of a cross-promotional deal which was rubber-stamped this week, 23 of the 63 matches in the competition will be shown live on Channel 5, as well as on DAZN.

15 group games, four last-16 ties, two quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final will be broadcast live on Channel 5. The remaining 40 matches will be shown exclusively by DAZN, who is the global rights holder.

At this stage, it’s unclear which exact matches Channel 5, who are bidding to buy the rights to two England men’s and women’s T20s this summer, will broadcast.

Meanwhile, British TV and streaming entertainment platform DAZN has also committed to making every match in the new Club World Cup tournament available free-to-air globally via its app.

DAZN paid $1billion (£787million) for global Club World Cup rights in February in a deal that appears to have been funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The kingdom’s Surj Sports Investment group confirmed last month that it had taken a minority stake in the streaming company valued at $1bn.

32 teams will compete for the inaugural prize. The tournament – like every other year – will bring together the best teams from the six international confederations. Each team has to play three group matches, with the top two from each group going into the last 16.

A direct single match knockout will then determine every game from there to the final, like the traditional World Cup and European Championship format, though there is no third-place play-off scheduled.

There has been some concern raised over whether this competition should go ahead due to the amount of matches, especially for the 12 European teams competing. Despite this, City, Chelsea and the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Benfica and Borussia Dortmund have agreed to take part.

City could earn £97m from the Club World Cup. The overall prize fund, shared between all 32 teams based on different factors, will be £775m, with £407m divided between all participating clubs and £368m awarded on a performance-related basis. In comparison, just £12m was on offer in the 2023 tournament.

The top-ranked European team by FIFA’s metrics will receive £29.6m just for participating – and they would secure the maximum prize available of around £97m for winning every game at the Club World Cup.

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