'Bringing the party to the games' - How sizzling South American fans are cranking up the volume at a 2025 FIFA Club World Cup that has, at times, seemed sedate

Most of the discussion about fans leading up to, and during, the CWC has been statistical. FIFA saying 1.5 million tickets have been sold. Only 3,000 fans showing up to a game in Orlando. All very clinical.

What South American sides have offered, though, is something more tangible. Their existence in this tournament comes in volume, but it is also quantifiable in passion. They exist in tradition, scene and ritual - transplanting an entire culture from one continent to another.

They exist in success, too. All four Brazilian clubs advanced from the group stages of the tournament - and in relatively comfortable fashion. They hold a combined record of 6-5-1. Palmeiras and Flamengo won their groups. Botafogo did the unthinkable and beat reigning Champions League holders PSG in the group stage.

“Before the tournament started, everyone thought we had no chance against two top opponents from major European leagues," Botafogo captain Marlon Freitas said. "We've shown the value of Brazilian football. We are champions of South America, and we deserve respect."

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s legendary manager, was far from surprised by the result.

"I like how all the games are tight, except one or two, and people are surprised, European teams lose. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to the real world my friends," he said.

There is history here. For 44 years, the best team in South America and best team in Europe played each other in the Intercontinental Cup. Organized in conjunction between UEFA and CONMEBOL, the contest was effectively a forum for bragging rights.

It became a controversial contest in the late 1960s after a violent second leg saw long-term bans handed out to multiple players. But after a rebrand and return, the competition chugged along, and allowed for some famous upsets for South American sides over European clubs. That tension has carried through until today - and has been on display at the Club World Cup.

You would have thought that Botafogo won the World Cup final when the final whistle went in their group game with PSG on June 19. Goalkeeper John looked up to the sky. The bench sprinted onto the pitch, dodging blue PSG jerseys and they gathered in their own penalty box in celebration.

The fans in the stands threw their drinks in the air. Manager Renato Paiva just smiled.

It had, in truth, been a pretty ugly 1-0 win in brutal conditions at the Rose Bowl. But Botafogo didn’t care. After beating Seattle to open their tournament, it was the victory over a European that they needed to make it out of the so-called group of death. Their manager, had, in fact, seen it coming.

“The cemetery of football is full of favorites,” he said in wonderful fashion before the game.

The fans were less poetic, but perhaps more forthright in their support. PSG supporters flooded out of the Rose Bowl at full time. The Brazilian ultras were still in the stands, drumming and dancing an hour later.

For Adriano Batista Branco, it was a no brainer. The Club World Cup had been circled on his calendar for a long time. The founder of Palmerias' official New York fan group had started preparing for it since the day the draw was finalized, in December 2024.

For him, that meant cultivating a whole fan experience that would last for as long as the team was in the tournament. He knew, for example, that there would be a heavy influx of fans from Brazil - as well as visitors from around the United States.

“We have supporters from the Consulate of Chicago, of Toronto, of Dublin, also New Jersey. And then we have the ultras from Sao Paolo,” Batista Branco said.

He organized the mass gathering of Palmeiras fans in Times Square that made headlines on the eve of the tournament. He coordinated buses and travel to make the inevitable journey from Legends Bar in Midtown Manhattan to MetLife Stadium. And he knew that there had to be events in between.

He organized rowdy boat tours around the Statue of Liberty, and helped piece together a party that effectively shut down the walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge. He figured a couple of hundred people would show up. The actual number, he figured, was at least twice that.

And at the game, he wanted the party to be even bigger. Palmeiras-Porto was the CWC’s first taste of South American fan culture. And what an experience it was, the majority of MetLife Stadium’s lower bowl a sea of green.

Before the game, there were further festivities, traveling fans shutting down a nearby shopping mall in the middle of what might otherwise have been an average Sunday for the hundreds of families that had trundled in from New Jersey suburbia.

“I felt like it was our stadium in Sao Paolo. It felt like home,” Batista Branco said.

Ricardo has lived in the United States for 15 years, splitting time between New York and Miami. It was fortunate for him, then, that the draw meant that his beloved Fluminense played in those two cities.

The avid fan, like his Palmeiras compatriot, went to work pretty quickly after the draw was announced. He had contacts within the club, and wanted, too, to cultivate a fan experience. And traditions have been upheld wonderfully. The standard stuff is here - the music, the banners, the chanting, the food. To him, a lifelong fan of the club, it seems as close to the real thing as possible. It helped, too, that 10,000 fans from Brazil flew in to join the party.

"Initially, we didn't think that many people were going to come. It's been a lot. It's kind of like a mini World Cup that we're living," Ricardo said.

But more important to Ricardo is the respect that his side - and South American football in general - has earned from their performances.

"Sometimes we just want to have attention and show the rest of the world our game. So I think that since in the beginning, when the teams were undefeated, and has started well, bringing the party and the atmosphere to the games, there was this kind of like, 'Oh, OK, we're doing well in South America,'" he said.

Fluminense have been in the U.S. before for preseason friendlies. He has experienced those. And the atmospheres there tend to be good, he said. But they can also get stale, held in the middle of nowhere in the July heat against a random European team. What gives this thing authenticity, he said - beyond tradition - is the way that the fans have interacted with each other.

He walked through Penn Station and around Times Square, and saw jerseys of his own club, but also of Palmeiras and Esperance de Tunis. Seeing a culture come to life - with South American football at the forefront - has meant the world.

"What's gonna stick with me so far is actually the experience of being in New York and having everybody there, but not only our fans, but also like the fans of other teams," he said.

Argentinian fans have done their bit, too. Long time football watchers will know the lore of Boca Juniors and River Plate well. The Superclasico is probably the fiercest derby the sport has to offer. The passion of fans of both clubs is known worldwide. What few could have predicted, though, was how it would make an impact in America.

Former Boca manager and club legend Sebastian Battaglia was serenaded by fans on a sunbleached beach as he had a dip in the water last week. They set off flares in the sand and chanted for hours on end. They were seen raving and singing in bars and clubs all over America. Their elimination was a massive shame - if only because of the energy they brought.

River's situation was trickier to figure out. While Boca were stationed mostly on the East Coast, River played their games in Seattle and Los Angeles. They are 6,000 miles away from home, and a few time zones removed. "Only" 5,000 fans showed up at the first game in Seattle. And then things exploded.

While Boca fans were dipping their toes in the ocean on one coast, River fans were swarming the sand on the other. Venice beach was a flood of white and red prior to their first game in Los Angeles, as an estimated 50,000 fans showed up to support their side.

"It was crazy for the whole beach," said Gustavo Reyes, a River Fan who traveled from San Diego for the game. "Even the club president was there. The atmosphere was amazing."

Reyes immersed himself in the fan culture over the ensuing days. He used the game as an excuse to hang out around LA for a while. He sauntered to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, toured Universal Studios and walked Dowtown LA wearing River shirts. Everywhere he went, River fans, also wearing their kits, yelled at him.

"It was nice to feel that. It kind of felt like you were at home. I think the rest of the fans felt the same way, even though they were really far from home they felt supported," he said.

And then there was the food. FIFA made it difficult for some fans by prohibiting tailgate parties within a certain distance of the stadium. That didn't stop fans, though, who simply set up to the Rose Bowl as close as they could - or made use of other open spaces. Reyes says he found himself drinking a fair amount of Fernet, an Argentine liquer, and enjoyed his fair share of Asado, too.

There are further stories, too. One unnamed River fan gave an interview to Spanish television, insisting that he had burned his car so he could collect the insurance money and fly to the United States for the tournament. A Boca supporter had to be escorted out of the Rose Bowl after he wore his own colors in a River section. He ended up taking his shirt off to avoid abuse.

Benfica and Boca fans swapped scarves before their group stage fixture - and danced together. Brazilian fans of all sorts of clubs - rivals or not - have come together. There is a real sense, more than anything, that these fans want to show that their footballing culture is legitimate.

Part of that comes from the game played out by 22 players on the pitch. But it is also clear in the waft of the grill and the shake of the stands, the volume of the chants and the bang of a drum. And with four South American teams remaining, there is a chance that the chaotic fandom might just lift a South American club to something pretty incredible.

The fans alone have shown it doesn't really matter which one does it. But they will be here for the party.

"Seeing the Brazilian and Argentine teams do well, everyone was involved," Ricardo said. "South America is being well represented."