‘Going there to fight for results’ - Amid revenue dispute, MLS clubs determined to assert themselves at Club World Cup

From the second that Inter Miami officially clinched the Supporters’ Shield, the MLS award given to the team that garners the highest number of points in the regular season, the Club World Cup has been working its way into the MLS scene.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino wasted little time shoe-horning the Herons into the tournament, running onto the pitch during a team celebration, taking a microphone, and announcing, in front of a rather bemused Lionel Messi that the Herons had not only qualified, but they would also be co-hosts of the competition. The Chase Stadium crowd roared. Messi stood expressionless. Miami swiftly put out a statement expressing their excitement.

Owner Jorge Mas outlined it as an excellent opportunity for MLS’s most marketable club.

“We promised our fans we would build a team capable of competing at the highest level,” he said. “We’re proud to have reached another milestone for our Club by being among the world’s best teams in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. It’s a monumental occasion for our fans worldwide and our community, as we continue to elevate fútbol in North America.”

Seattle followed as qualifiers thanks to their performance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (they won the competition in 2022.) LAFC, somewhat controversially, then rounded out the trio in late May after beating Club America in an immensely entertaining yet hastily thrown together play-in game in late May.

In theory, the excitement behind all this for MLS cannot be called into question.

“There's very few ways as a club footballer to play at an international level, to play globally, and so this is the biggest opportunity to do that, to represent LAFC in a global level,” LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead said

Part of the appeal of this tournament for the players is the prize money FIFA has promised. There is a pot of $1 billion to be split among all participating clubs, depending on how far they go in the tournament. The winner could theoretically collect $125M - only marginally less than the payout for winning the Premier League.

The three participating MLS clubs are set to make roughly $10M each, regardless of result. And that’s where the issues start. MLS is a singular entity in which the league has financial jurisdiction over its clubs. That means the payout from FIFA goes not directly to the owners of Seattle, Miami and LAFC, but to the league as a whole. The league office then gets to decide what to do with it.

And that’s why Seattle players are protesting. They believe that they are entitled to a fair share of those CWC revenues. Informal conversations between the league and MLS Players’ Association started a few months ago. A formal offer was made more recently, in which the MLSPA originally asked for 30 percent of the prize money. The league delayed their counter offer, and then tabled it after the Sounders’ protest.

The MLS then reportedly proposed a 20 percent bonus to any money earned beyond the original payout, including for wins, draws and advancement to further rounds.

In a statement, the MLSPA dubbed the league’s response “retaliatory”, claimed that the league was not acting in good faith, and responded with an ask of 40 percent. As of Tuesday, there has been no formal response from the league - although the MLSPA expects that negotiations will continue in the days before the tournament begins this weekend.

There is no sense of what might happen if a deal isn’t reached.

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, signed in 2021, before the prize money for the tournament was revealed, the MLS Players Association and league agreed a provision that entitled MLS players up to 10 percent of earnings from outside competition up to a total value of $1M. The windfall of the CWC - which hadn’t yet been announced at the time - is far greater, and therefore requires a reevaluation ahead of the tournament, players argued.

“FIFA created this, and it wasn't a part of the CBA talks when CBA was happening years and years ago,” Hollingshead said. “And so this is a new tournament. It should be coming with new rules, and the league needs to make that happen.”

Still, for all of the financial concerns, the league’s involvement could be a net benefit, especially in the eyes of those taking the field over the next month.

It’s always tricky to position where, exactly, MLS clubs stand on the global scale. There are some measures for success. Opta has MLS as the ninth-best league in the world, according to its so-called “relative power index.”

MLS clubs can also measure themselves against CONCACAF competition in the Champions Cup - although North American teams have won it just once. Leagues Cup, too, has offered a measuring stick between MLS and Liga MX. A revamped version has seen back-to-back wins for Major League Soccer teams.

But positioning the league on a global scale, with actual football matches, is a relatively novel concept. What remains, then, is an opportunity for MLS to assert itself in competition. The Sounders, for example, have been matched up against PSG, Atletico Madrid and Botafogo in the CWC group stage.

“If we can pull out a result against any one of those three teams, that makes a statement that MLS is not so far behind some of the other teams in the world,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer told GOAL.

Others around the league have echoed that sentiment.

“This is a moment to show the world that MLS is here to play,” LAFC’s Jeremy Ebobisse said.

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The league is in a unique position. There remains a global perception that MLS isn’t far beyond the “retirement league” moniker. Those more heavily involved argue that, these days, it’s so much more.

“I'm excited as an American that lives here because Major League Soccer, their stadiums, their venues, their infrastructure, the clubs, the fan bases, a new fan base is going to be exposed to Major League Soccer - and what we're doing over in this country,” Apple TV commentator and analyst Taylor Twellman told GOAL.

Watch it, and you will see that the league is more of a talent factory - a spot for growth that can also provide a reliable career. But despite that, it’s hard to map out exactly what success will look like. Of course, it varies for every team involved. LAFC players have insisted that they intend to get out of the group.

“We fully believe that we can get out of this group and represent ourselves well, and from there, anything can happen in the game of football. So let's see what happens,” Ebobisse said.

Schmetzer has been more conservative: any result would be worth celebrating.

“Expectations have to be in line. I mean, those are great teams. We want to be competitive. If we could get a result, that would be unbelievable,” Schmetzer said. Their fans are a little more optimistic, though.

“I think the best hope - and I honestly think we're gonna lose all three games - is to beat Botafogo, tie Atletico and lose to PSG, and then that gets you through to the next round,” Cameron Collins, president of Seattle supporters’ group Gorilla FC said.

For Miami, things are different. In Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, they have a massive advantage and potential difference-makers on the pitch. But the Messi, especially, inflates expectations significantly. Manager Javier Mascherano knows this, and has repeatedly emphasized it. A recent 5-1 battering of MLS Cup rivals Columbus Crew served as proof that Miami can compete - at least, that’s what he argued after the game.

“The result gives us confidence,” he said. “It shows that if we’re brave and calm, we can match any team, especially in MLS. The Club World Cup is a different level, even Al Ahly, but we’ll compete, try to be ourselves, and that’s what matters.”

The same goes for his players.

“The Club World Cup is super hard,” Miami midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi said. “Obviously, it'd be amazing if we win that, but it's, it's definitely, it's definitely a stretch. But that's our goal, that's our objective. We want to compete in everything. We want to be a team that people are afraid to play.”

In an interview with GOAL, Schmetzer acknowledged another fundamental fact about the tournament: it could be important for transfer business.

“Young Obed Vargas… let’s just say he has a good game against Atletico Madrid, does that make his market value go higher?” he said.

It’s not a perception unique to the head coach, either.

“The idea was [Vargas] would shine and then we would sell him off to another team. So if you go to a bigger club, and then we get that money and be able to reinvest it,” Collins said. “And we're not excited to see him go. Obviously, we want him here, but it's a good chance for him.”

FIFA offered an opportunity for the rest of the world to bring in talent ahead of the tournament. A mini transfer window, active from June 1 through June 10, allowed all participating teams to sign players.

Real Madrid made full use of it, picking up Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen. MLS clubs, for their part, remained quiet - despite the fact that U.S. soccer reportedly allowed them the opportunity to take part.

LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo admitted that his club were eager to bring in reinforcements.

“We are proofing everything and always trying to strengthen our roster. And anytime a window does open, we take it seriously. So we are hard at work,” he said.

However, as of the deadline day, the Los Angeles club hadn’t added any extra pieces. The same goes for Miami. Despite consistent links with names such as Kevin de Bruyne and Angel Di Maria, they remained quiet.

Other concerns remain. Ticket sales for the overall tournament are mightily inconsistent, with Miami’s opening fixture against Al Ahly not yet sold out. The players have admitted that the matchday atmosphere - potentially playing in half-empty stadiums - could be strange.

“We need to see what the situation is going to be like when you get to the games," Ebobisse said. "It could be tough to feel how grand of an atmosphere it is if some of the stadiums maybe aren't living up to our internal expectations.”

There are also questions about how a new tournament might look in terms of competitiveness. This is the middle of the MLS season, when teams are in the flow of their soccer. For European sides, it’s the tail-end of an exhausting campaign. Whether the bite of the biggest competition is present remains to be seen.

“It's a different format, a different competition, different opponents, the preparation will be similar,” Cherundolo said. “But there's a different patch on the shoulder. So yes, there will be a different feeling about it for our group.”

Still, this remains, fundamentally, an opportunity to put on a show. Organizational concerns are beyond the power of the players. Financial tensions may yet be figured out. Players themselves have admitted that they hope no further protests will be necessary.

And once the soccer starts, MLS will put its status to the test, a novel opportunity for a league still searching for global legitimacy.

“We are not going there just to enjoy three games and come home," Hollingshead said. "We're going there to fight for results."