Sportradar: the betting appeal of a Club World Cup
This summer’s revamped FIFA Club World Cup presents a major opportunity for sportsbook operators with a new 32-team knockout format designed to boost fan engagement and betting activity. But how do you engage dormant punters now the “traditional” domestic season over?
With global media coverage and strong parallels to the FIFA World Cup, Sportradar’s Rainer Lichtmannegger, SVP Sports Content Products, says the tournament offers fresh revenue potential through expanded betting markets and increasingly popular bet builder features.
I’m interested to see how the FIFA Club World Cup performs for sportsbook operators when the competition returns to the sports schedule this summer. Over the last 25 years the tournament has moved around the calendar somewhat, making it difficult to develop a following. But the refreshed and super-charged format of this year’s Club World Cup competition can’t be compared to previous editions.
There’s plenty for operators to be excited about ahead of the big kick-off on Sunday 15 June. FIFA has revamped the competition, expanding the number of teams taking part from seven to 32. New qualifying criteria ensures that the strongest teams from the six football confederations are present at the event, which should make for a more competitive tournament.
For betting operators, the most significant change is that the Club World Cup will now follow a knockout tournament format, similar to the FIFA World Cup. Every four years we see just how deeply bettors engage with a World Cup or a European Championships.
Bettors are familiar with tournament football – they understand that the top two teams in each group move on to the knockout stage. And everyone knows what happens from there. Operators will hope that this familiarity can drive adoption and acceptance of the tournament amongst bettors.
If previous iterations of the Club World Cup have gone unnoticed amongst fans, then FIFA is leaving nothing to chance this time round. The presence of the world’s biggest teams drives visibility through a steady flow of media headlines before a ball has even been kicked. And a reported $1 billion broadcast deal with streaming service DAZN ensures worldwide media exposure for the duration of the tournament.
All of this media activity puts the Club World Cup front of mind amongst bettors and drives awareness, stimulating that top of funnel marketing activity for operators. Given the high-profile nature of this year’s event, operators will need to offer coverage that is comparable to all of the other big football events if they’re going to increase betting activity on the Club World Cup.
Operators will need to ensure that their core betting offering is stable and reliable over the course of the competition. From a Sportradar point of view, we see the revenue generating potential this new format offers our clients which is why we’re putting up full coverage for each of the competition’s 63 matches.
This includes up to 190 pre-match betting markets and up to 200 in-play betting markets. What’s more, we know that live betting delivers significant returns for operators, particularly in football, so we have a selection of micro markets available to engage bettors and further enhance the live sport experience.
To really dial-up the engagement with football bettors during the competition, operators need to have an effective bet builder product in place. There’s real momentum behind bet builder bets, which offer new levels of personalisation. It’s a trend that really came to the fore during EURO 2024 as bettors took greater ownership of their football betting experience.
The reason why bet builder products can deliver success for operators during the Club World Cup specifically, is that all 63 matches are streamed or, in the case of the UK, broadcast on free to air Channel 5.
That’s important because during a big, televised football match, a Sunday Premier League fixture for example, I estimate that up to 30 per cent of pre-match Gross Gaming Revenue comes from bet builder bets. And I would expect to see similar levels of activity during those high profile fixtures this summer.
With 32 teams from across the world competing in this year’s Club World Cup, bet builders allow bettors to show off their football knowledge and team insights in a strategic way. Allowing bettors to customise their bets in this way can drive much needed engagement and open fresh revenues for operators.
Previous Club World Cup competitions may have struggled to engage fans and bettors, but the changes in place for this summer’s edition give operators reason to be optimistic. A month-long football tournament in an ‘odd year’ is unique for sport – operators now need to make the most of it.
