FIFA DEFENDS CLUB WORLD CUP TICKET SALES AMID LOW ATTENDANCE FIGURES

The Club World Cup has been played in the United States this year, with a number of the games seeing crowds of less than 10,000 people despite large stadiums being used

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FIFA has come out to defend the ticket sales for the Club World Cup amidst noticeably sparse attendance at a recent group stage match.

Only 3,412 spectators were present for the fixture featuring Ulsan HD of South Korea and Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa in Orlando, starkly fewer than the 22,317 fans who witnessed Chelsea’s kickoff against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta, hosted by a stadium with a 71,000 capacity.

This tournament has sparked controversy since its launch, leading to lawsuits from domestic leagues and players' unions against FIFA over claimed insufficient communication concerning fixture scheduling.

While some matches have drawn significant crowds – notably over 80,000 attending Paris St Germain's win over Atletico Madrid in Pasadena – FIFA announced on Tuesday that nearly 1.5 million tickets have been sold thus far.

According to FIFA, the initial eight matches drew an impressive 340,000 attendees, showcasing the broad global appeal of club football. The organisation highlighted that four out of the top five best-selling group stage games are yet to occur.

Manchester City is set to open their campaign against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca on Wednesday evening.

There are substantial financial rewards up for grabs, with the potential for City or Chelsea to bag almost £100million if they claim victory in the tournament.

Despite these lucrative stakes, former Manchester City defender Danny Mills has labelled the competition as "pointless".

Speaking to William Hill Vegas, he shared his bafflement: "I don't get it and I don't understand what kudos it brings.

"It might be a nice day out for the minnows like Auckland City FC, but for players from the top clubs, like Paris St Germain, Real Madrid and Manchester City, at the end of their careers, they are not going to care if they won the Club World Cup or not.

"It's a made-up competition for FIFA to make money, it's as simple as that. There is no prestige in winning the competition whatsoever.

"I don't really know if many people are watching it but there doesn't seem to be much interest in the matches at all. It's an unnecessary tournament."

The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world's best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.

Fans can watch every match live and for free by signing up to DAZN.

- Husmukh Kerai & Jamie Gardner 

KIM PAN-GON EARNING ULSAN HD JOB IS TESTAMENT TO WHAT HE ACHIEVED IN MALAYSIA, HONG KONG

Kim Pan-Gon was previously best known in South Korea for his technical role with the Korea Football Association, where he played a major role in the appointment of Paulo Bento -- under whom they reached the round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

 On Sunday, just over a week after he had abruptly vacated his role as Malaysia coach, Kim Pan-Gon was announced as the new man in charge of South Korean giants Ulsan HD.

It always seemed his likeliest destination once rumours started swirling in South Korea, even though there were murmurings that a return to Hong Kong was potentially on the cards.

With no disrespect to the Hong Kong national team vacancy, that was never likely to be on the cards.

Malaysia are on par with, if not superior to, Hong Kong, even though both had made excellent strides in recent times having ended long waits to return to the AFC Asian Cup earlier this year. The FIFA world rankings suggest as much with Malaysia sitting 134th and Hong Kong 25 places lower.

But Ulsan, who have been looking for a new man in charge since Hong Myung-Bo was jettisoned to the South Korea national team, is a far different story.

They have been the dominant force in South Korean football in the past couple of years although their overall haul of four K League 1 titles still pales in comparison to more traditional powerhouses like Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, FC Seoul and Pohang Steelers.

They are also one of the biggest clubs in all of Asia, having won the AFC Champions League twice, as recently as 2020.

Still, the biggest motivating factor for Kim -- which also is the strongest testimony to what he has achieved to earn this job -- is the fact that his marks the first opportunity he has to take on a top job in his native country.

Having had a decent playing career that saw him feature for Ulsan and also have a brief spell with Jeonbuk, the 55-year-old has had quite the unconventional coaching journey which started where he decided to hang up his boots -- in Hong Kong.

He had a stint as assistant coach with Busan IPark which saw him take over the reins in a caretaker capacity for a period of time but, prior to the Malaysia job, Kim's managerial experience largely came in Hong Kong -- first with club teams Hong Kong Rangers (then Buler Rangers) and South China, before taking charge of the national team on two separate occasions.

After a successful spell in charge of Malaysia, Kim Pan-Gon has returned to his native South Korea to take on the Ulsan HD job that was recently vacated by national hero Hong Myung-Bo. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Kim did subsequently have another assisting role in the K League with Gyeongnam FC and, after his second spell with Hong Kong, then had a technical role at the Korea Football Association.

All were testament to his undeniable coaching acumen and yet a top job at one of South Korea's bigger teams still seemed a fantasy.

Those were usually reserved for former national team heroes with stellar credentials and reputations. The likes of Hong Myung-Bo, Hwang Sun-Hong and Kim Do-Hoon, who had all played at the FIFA World Cup.

Having never featured for South Korea at any level, few in the country had even heard of him.

Then, Malaysia came calling at the start of 2022. Harimau Malaya were 154th in the world at the time.

Under Kim Pan-Gon, they would qualify for the Asian Cup on merit for the first time since 1980 -- having last featured in 2007 by virtue of being the tournament's co-hosts.

While they would ultimately fail to make it out of the group stage back in January, Malaysia caused a real stir when they held giants South Korea to a thrilling 3-3 draw -- a game in which they came from behind to lead and then snatched a point with a dramatic equaliser in the 15th minute of injury-time.

They then won their opening two games in the second round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and looked on course for another major achievement, before falling away and missing out on the third round.

Still, even if he has left them at an untimely moment with the much-coveted ASEAN Championship at the end of the year, Malaysia are now in a significantly better place than where they were when Kim Pan-Gon first took charge, having even reached a high of world No. 130.

And for their former coach, what might have seemed a less-illustrious job is ultimately the one that has earned him recognition -- and vindication for his out-of-the-ordinary path back home.

Kim Pan-Gon has finally found his way to a top job in South Korea -- and with the K League's biggest club at that.

It may have seemed improbable previously, and he still may not be the likeliest of candidates.

Yet, for all that he achieved -- first in Hong Kong and then with Malaysia -- he thoroughly deserves the opportunity.

- Gabriel Tan

SPIRITED FIGHTBACK LEAVES YOKOHAMA F. MARINOS ON THE BRINK OF HISTORIC AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TRIUMPH

An 84th-minute effort by Kota Watanabe completed a come-from-behind 2-1 win for Yokohama F. Marinos over Al Ain in the first leg of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League final. YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images

 In the last edition of Asian football's premier club competition in its current iteration, Yokohama F. Marinos -- one of the continent's most famous clubs -- are finally on the verge of winning the AFC Champions League for the first time.

And, in what has been a recurring theme throughout the campaign, they are insisting on doing things the hard way.

On Sunday evening, Marinos looked set to fall to a costly home loss to Al Ain in the first leg of the final as they trailed through Mohammed Abbas' 12th-minute opener -- only to score twice in the final 18 minutes to claim an important 2-1 win at Nissan Stadium.

Based on the balance of play, few would argue that they were not deserving of the victory and yet it again looked like the J1 League giants were doing all they could to squander a golden opportunity to become the 7th Japanese champions of Asia.

Even from the group stage, Marinos had to rely on a superior head-to-head record -- which went down to goal difference -- to progress following a three-way tie on 12 points with Shandong Taishan and Incheon United.

The round of 16 saw them require extra-time to beat Bangkok United 3-2 on aggregate in a tie they were the favourites in, before the quarterfinals was where they perhaps had the least of trouble as they prevailed in reunion with Shandong.

Come the semifinals, Harry Kewell's charges would race into a 3-0 lead inside the opening half-hour of the second leg against Ulsan HD -- having lost the opening encounter 1-0 -- but then allowed their opponents to level the aggregate score, even having to play over 80 minutes with a numerical deficit as Takumi Kamijima was sent off prior to the break before the game went into extra-time and then penalties.

Marinos would eventually prevail 5-4 in the shootout to set up a decider with Al Ain, who were no slouches themselves after stunning tournament favourites Al Hilal in the West Asia Zone semifinal.

Heading in Saturday's clash, Marinos were always expected to make the most of home advantage ahead of a daunting trip to the United Arab Emirates in a fortnight -- only for them to fall behind after 12 minutes when they were caught out by an opposition counterattack.

There appeared to be little danger when Al Ain pinged a hopeful ball forward but, through sheer pace and determination, Soufiane Rahimi would surge past a dumbfounded Eduardo and, while his initial effort was well saved by William Popp, Abbas was on hand to score on the rebound.

In fairness, Marinos had been the more enterprising of the two teams up till that point and they continued to create the better chances only for an equaliser to elude them through a combination of hesitant finishing and some heroics by Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.

Somehow, things looked to have gotten worse for the hosts on the half-hour mark when Popp, who had been otherwise excellent throughout the second half of the campaign, allowed a tame shot by Matias Palacios to squirm through his legs -- but VAR would come to their rescue by cancelling out a second Al Ain goal for offside.

Nonetheless, as the game progressed into second 45, Marinos were now fully on the charge yet, as chances continued to go begging, it did look as though they would once more leave themselves with a mountain to climb in the second leg.

But as he has proven in recent times, Asahi Uenaka's knack for popping up with important goals came to the fore in the 72nd minute as he ghosted into the six-yard box to meet Yan Matheus' inch-perfect cross with a glancing header into the bottom corner.

With the tie now purely one-way traffic as Al Ain looked increasingly content to take a draw back to the UAE, Marinos would strike again.

Yet another excellent delivery from the right by Yan Matheus was volleyed towards goal by Ryo Miyaichi and, while the strike probably would have been off target, Kota Watanabe was perfectly placed to divert the ball into the back of the net with his knee.

The offside flag halted the initial celebrations but VAR would again lend a helping hand as it proved that Palacios had played every opponent onside, ensuring Kewell's decision to introduce both Miyaichi and Watanabe on just after the hour would prove a masterstroke.

As the final whistle rang shortly after, there was elation in the Marinos camp -- but possibly also plenty of relief.

The job still is not completed and they will likely face a massive test at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on May 25.

Still, regardless of how they continue to do things the hard way, the fact remains that Marinos are now tantalisingly close to a historic ACL triumph.

- Gabriel Tan