Cliff Notes – Chelsea feeling no pressure to win $130M CWC prize

Enzo Maresca stated that Chelsea is not under financial pressure to win the Club World Cup, despite the £97 million prize for the winner.
The club is focused on securing qualification for the knockout stage, needing to avoid defeat against Esperance de Tunis in their upcoming match.
Chelsea’s financial dealings, including the sale of hotels and their women’s team, are under UEFA investigation, but Maresca emphasised that the owners prioritise success over monetary incentives.

Chelsea feeling no pressure to win $130M CWC prize

Enzo Maresca said Chelsea are not under any financial pressure to lift the Club World Cup despite the £97 million ($130 million) on offer to the winner.

The Blues face a scramble to qualify for the round of 16, needing to avoid defeat against Esperance de Tunis in Philadelphia on Tuesday to secure second place in Group D.

They will receive in the region of £40m just for participating in the 32-team tournament, but the prize money increases significantly in the knockout rounds.

Chelsea were fully compliant with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules for the 2023-24 season, but their accounts showed they sold their Copthorne and Millennium hotels at Stamford Bridge for £76.5m to a sister company — a controversial move which ESPN exclusively revealed last September had been approved by the Premier League.

They have also sold their women’s team to parent company BlueCo for a women’s football record fee of £200m. UEFA is still investigating both transactions as they relate to their own Financial Fair Play rules.

The Blues have continued their lavish spending with more than £1.2bn committed on new players since the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital ownership took charge in May 2022 and Maresca insisted there had been no conversations around the monetary significance of succeeding at the Club World Cup.

“The owners, they just want the best for us and for the players game by game,” said Maresca. “They are not talking about the final prize or the final reward in terms of money. And they never put pressure on me or the players in terms of ‘we need to win this tournament because of the money.’

“They just want to try to win for everyone — for them, for the club, for the fans, for the players, for me, for everyone. It is not just about the money side.”

Reece James missed Chelsea’s training session on Monday due to illness as temperatures surged towards 100-degrees-F in Philadelphia.