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The United States is set to host the largest single sporting event in the world as the country welcomes the 2026 FIFA World Cup to home soil.
Before that, however, FIFA is staging the 2025 Club World Cup throughout the U.S. at many of the same venues that are scheduled to hold World Cup matches next summer.
Most notably, MetLife Stadium just outside New York City is hosting not just the Club World Cup final but also the World Cup final, an honor of incredible proportion. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people tuned in for the 2022 World Cup final, so in essence, the world will be watching.
The Sporting News spoke with multiple FIFA officials who help coordinate various aspects of the enormous effort at MetLife Stadium prior to the Club World Cup final to get an idea of what goes into putting on an event of such monstrous scale.
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MetLife Stadium crowd size, cost, and location
The capacity for MetLife Stadium is 82,500 fans, which makes it the largest stadium of any NFL-primary venue in the United States.
Swedish contractors Skanska broke ground on the new venue in 2007 right next to its predecessor Giants Stadium, and it was completed in time for the 2010 NFL season, at which point Giants Stadium was demolished. The project in full cost approximately $1.6 billion, split evenly by the Giants and Jets without any direct public subsidies.
Located at the "Meadowlands" in East Rutherford, NJ, the stadium is some distance from New York City, but close enough to claim it. Essentially, it's built in the middle of a swamp about five miles west of the city, just over the border into New Jersey.
It is located directly next to the American Dream Mall, which is the second-largest mall in the United States behind only the Mall of America.
MetLife Stadium pitch: How to keep turf in top condition for a final
The soccer pitch at MetLife Stadium is a SIS pitch of mainly Tahoma 31 (T31) Bermuda grass, with artificial fibers sewn into it. The pitch dimensions are 105 meters by 68 meters, and the turf is cut to 17 millimeters in length, which is just over half an inch.
The grass was grown at Tuckahoe Turf Farms in Hammonton, New Jersey, about 90 miles south of the venue. It will have been transported in refrigerated trucks to the venue and installed about five days prior to the first Club World Cup game on June 15.
"We've done about a year's worth of research and development on this [pitch] profile, and everything we've done in that past year is starting to play out as we'd hoped and expected," FIFA pitch venue manager for MetLife Stadium, Blair Christensen, who hails from New Zealand, said to a select group of media including The Sporting News prior to the Club World Cup semifinals.
MORE: Learn about how grass-over-turf pitches are researched, grown, installed, and maintained
The pitch consists of four main layers on top of the regular MetLife Stadium artificial turf surface. Below the main Bermuda grass pitch is a geotextile layer meant for durability, which then lays on top of a permavoid to ensure drainage and provide a buffer from the bases. Finally, those lay on top of an aluminium floor, which separates the entire build from the permanent artificial surface.
"We researched the climate, knew the environment in the stadium with the grass types that are specific to this venue, and I always thought this pitch would get stronger and stronger throughout the tournament, and that's what we're seeing," Christensen said.
The main complaint of players through the Club World Cup has been a deadened bounce. This has been a common issue for clubs when playing in the United States over the past few years, especially while playing on grass laid over artificial turf.
"I test this pitch daily," Christensen said when asked about this issue. "We're trying to reach all of our playing parameters that the players enjoy, and this pitch hits all the marks. We've got a pretty nice little band we like to be within for densities and moisture contents that we check regularly, and everything we do is to hit those numbers.
"We're super confident that this pitch will take not just the play but all of the other ancillary activity on a pitch that has two semis and a final plus six other matches. It's a pretty big workload for it, but I'm confident it'll be looking pretty good by the final whistle on Sunday night [after the final]."
MetLife Stadium locker rooms and operations
Holding such a massive event such as the FIFA Club World Cup requires an exorbitant amount of logistical coordination and event operations.
"Despite some comments that this [Club World Cup] is some kind of test event, it is not," said Luis Castro, FIFA match director, who is in charge of logistical matchday operations. "We are really happy to have the chance to experience first-hand what will happen next year, but for us, we are not testing anything. We are operating in a stadium as was expected from our authorities, and trying to fulfil expectations from the audience and relevant stakeholders such as the media, national authorities, and city authorities."
Kyle Bonn / The Sporting News
Castro is largely responsible for what he calls "Zone One," which includes dressing rooms, the main corridor, and field of play.
"On matchday minus-one, we run a series of meetings, such as security and protocol meetings and a match coordination meeting where we coordinate and align with both teams, referees, and other FIFA leads on the matchday operations. We share an official countdown with a very detailed and specific timeline for every single operation to take place on matchday."
Starting eight hours before kickoff on matchday, Castro says FIFA has over 120 different matchday policies and procedures for every possible occurrence.
The MetLife Stadium dressing rooms are the Giants and Jets locker rooms, which are over 300 square meters in area and include the main changing area, treatment rooms, staff offices, and two tunnels to the field of play.
"You need to consider the multicultural approach that FIFA has and the different parts of the world the teams are coming from," Castro said about holding a world-class football match at a venue not specifically designed for football. "We need to adjust our operations to accommodate their requests and demands, and we take time to help them. For instance, the equipment staff usually comes with between 1.5 and two tons of equipment, each team. In order to help them to reach their spots, we use buggies and assist in operations as much as possible.
"In spite of the challenges we have, this venue was great in terms of walkthroughs, spaces, and we're very happy in how the stadium personnel adapted to our requirements. We built this strong venue team from FIFA officials, stadium staff, security, and so on to become a single unit to deliver the biggest Club World Cup ever made."
MetLife Stadium volunteers
FIFA could not put on such a large-scale event without the vital assistance of over 9,000 volunteers around the country at various venues, with about 900 volunteers at MetLife Stadium alone.
"We're supporting almost every functional area, every department across the event," said Evert Sels, volunteer program leader at MetLife Stadium. "We are helping out with the referees, on the field, helping the teams, helping in the hotels, helping transport... so we're touching all elements of the event itself."
Sels is right. Both during and outside matchday, volunteers are visible in every single aspect of the event. From a media perspective, volunteers are assisting during press conferences and mixed zones, as well as posted around the grounds to direct participants and spectators, disseminate information, and assist with pedestrian flow.
While the Club World Cup is a standalone tournament propped up by FIFA as a global event of its own, there's no doubt that they have one eye on next summer's World Cup.
"We are also using this platform to promote 2026, the World Cup being hosted once again at MetLife Stadium, including the final, which everyone is very excited about. We are already open for expression of interest online before we launch into our recruitment in August."
Sels estimates around 5,000 volunteers may be required to hold the FIFA World Cup final next summer, and he expects "tens of thousands" of applications they will have to sift through to select the participants.
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