Resistance is joy and other good things from the Club World Cup
The first in a series of thoughts I've had about the Club World Cup taking place across the USA this month
Last time I wrote about soccer, it was deeply personal and inspired because of the actions of the US policy makers in the executive branch. Unfortunately, not a whole lot has changed since then, but the world, as always, keeps turning. For me, that has meant a lot of 1 of the Club World Cup2, the FIFA backed tournament being hosted for the first time on United States soil. (Check the footnote if you need an explainer.)
The largest issue during the run in, aside from the drama of poor ticket sales, how the US administration’s open hostility towards immigrants and foreigners would impact a tournament drawing large numbers of supporters from Central and South America, as well as strong contingents from Germany, Spain, and England. US policies did in fact bar one player from entering the country and while FIFA tired to assuage fears by claiming all efforts were in the name of fan safety, quotes from border enforcement and ICE led to concerns for both travelers and natives.
Pushback led to border enforcement backing down from their initial message, and the reality is that messages about needing to carry proof of citizenship did not help a tournament that was already facing massive attendance issues. Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s President, has been laying the groundwork for a successful two year run with the US ever since Donald Trump took office. Trump may not care about soccer, but Infantino knows how to appease corrupt and temperamental government leaders, and the relationship between these two will make for a fascinating book someday. For now, ICE and Border Enforcement presence hasn’t been non-existent, but it’s been less than the “suited and booted” message would lead one to believe.
This is a good thing, because the one takeaway from the Club World Cup so far has been that football, at its best, is a joyful communal act of resistance, and the Brazilians, Mexicans, and Argentinians here to support their clubs are masters at the craft. I’ve been lucky enough to attend two matches featuring Palmeiras and Flamengo, and seen the action first hand. However, social media has been plenty of content, whether it’s Fluminense fans taking over Times Square, Boca Juniors supporters flooding South Beach, or the countless stories and videos of public transit becoming fan busses and trains, this tournament has been taken incredibly seriously by fans.
The concept of “joy as resistance” may be more in vogue because of *gestures wildly* but its roots track back further than 2019’s Pleasure Activism, which brought a lot of concepts together and mainstream. It makes plenty of logical sense; Showing joyfulness in as a community in front of those who wish to bring to pain is a direct message that the oppressors are failing. Yet, it’s a concept I struggled with for a long time. Part of western civilization is the internalization of systems and their enormity in scale, and the idea that simply being happy can do anything to that machine is difficult to accept. That mindset has only been accelerated by the adoption of sports metaphors and language into our broader system of language.
A lot of corporate jargon we know of today came from the fact that post World War II, a large majority of the “working class” had a shared background in the military. It became easier to convey concepts through language already internalized through military training, and the adoption of sports concepts into corporate jargon is yet another example of the permeance sports has on our collective society. So it should come as no surprise that as “Mamba Mentality3” became a highly adopted way to introduce employees to shorthand that prioritized around the clock dedication to work and “winning” their chosen field.
This has proliferated sports and work, and so if you’re a human who works in the western world and enjoys sports, there’s an ever present drum beating in the background pulsing trying to remove the joy from sports if it doesn’t involve the crushing of your opposition. It’s not fun!
This tournament means something to South American clubs. This reddit post did a great job summarizing years of development that has left South American soccer a very different place than it was the last time the World Cup was held in the US. It’s not as if these teams are small, poor, soccer clubs with no money; Flamengo have a team transfer value of over $221m, Botafogo over $160m, and Palmeiras tops them all at over $250m. Compare that to Inter Miami, the top MLS team, which sits at just under $70m4. But in comparison to the close to billions that the European clubs handle in a given season, these teams are on the same level. But that’s soccer! It’s an inherently unfair game.
And that’s why this year’s Club World Cup matters so much to this clubs. This is a an opportunity on an international stage to show competency on the field. The clubs are trying to prove that there is quality soccer played all over the world, not just in a few countries in Europe.
When I was in line for beer at the Flamengo-Chelsea match, a conversation between two fans took place behind me. The Chelsea fan was complimentary of the Flamengo team’s first half performance, which saw Chelsea up 1-0 but Flamengo dominate the game. The Brazilian fan interrupts him and says something to effect of “it’s not enough to play well, we need to play well and win so we can prove to everyone we’re legitimate.”
All that rambling to get to this simple conclusion: this tournament, this mess of a tournament, is something successful for a few clubs. They are demonstrating that Europe does not have a monopoly over competitive soccer, and their fans are lock-step in that mission. These fans knew that coming to the US was going to be an experience of extremes; for all of the security and ICE concerns, I’ve never seen a group of fans more excited to drink beer while in a stadium.5 Their demonstrations of fandom in the face of so many opposition forces is an act of resistance because they are having so much damn fun. It doesn’t matter if the tournament is a brazen cash grab, it doesn’t matter if the host country doesn’t really want to be hosting them, and it sure as hell doesn’t matter that the European opponents look down their noses at their wild displays and physical play.
What matters most is that they support their team no matter the result, because supporting a team is fun. It’s communal. It’s something that for two hours lets you turn off the outside world and share with a group of friends, family, and strangers.
Arsenal didn’t qualify for the Club World Cup. Seattle Sounds FC did, and lost all three of their matches. I went to matches involving completely different clubs, and had a great time at both because of the Brazilian supporters. This tournament may not be perfect, but it has been fun, and honestly, that’s what we really needed this summer.
Yes, a later edition of this will get into the whole DAZN/Turner fiasco.
The Club World Cup, as a FIFA sanctioned event, is not new. It dates back in some form to 2000 as a competition between the best club teams from around the world. It was previously only available to the clubs who won their confederation’s continental championship, so Champions league in Europe for example, and held annually. After the 2022 edition of the tournament, due to scheduling conflicts with the Euros and other confederation matches, FIFA canceled the 2023 edition, announcing a new format that mirrors the FIFA World Cup. The tournament will now be every four years in the summer before the FIFA World Cup, and will feature 32 teams, chosen based on their wins and performance across club continental championships. In a later post, I’ll dive into my theories about why I think FIFA actually created this new format, but for now, just know this is a money making opportunity for all involved, and is technically a test run for the US as they prepare to host the FIFA World Cup next summer.
Kobe Bryant’s autobiography in 2018 is titled “Mamba Mentality,” but the Kobe ethos was popular as soon as he became a star in the NBA. Essentially, it’s the “win at all costs” idea that glamorizes ruthlessness, 24/7 grind at work, and the belief that anything but win should be internalized and recognized as a personal loss.
This will be a topic in another post. Don’t worry!
Almost all South American and Central American stadiums have long since banned alcoholic beer sold in the stadium due to safety concerns.