World Cup vs Champions League - Which is best?

As the 2022 World Cup in Qatar draws closer, people are starting to choose their teams in the Noise football predictor game. One thing that’s easy to predict is the age-old argument that crops up every four years. Is the World Cup better than the Champions League or is the UEFA tournament the pinnacle of the beautiful game?

As you would expect, domestic football managers prefer the Champions League, with Jose Mourinho stating that the Champions League “is even bigger than the World Cup because the teams in it are at a higher level than the national teams, who can’t buy the best players.” Sir Alex Ferguson, shares that view claiming that “the Champions League is the best competition in the world now, better than the World Cup.”

There are strong arguments both ways. Some say that the World Cup is unrivalled for participation, global audience and prestige, while others argue that the quality of football in the Champions League is far superior. So let’s take a look at the evidence.

It’s a numbers game

The World Cup is the bigger tournament in terms of games. It may only have 64 games to pick from in the finals for your football predictor game, but if you count all the qualifying games, it boasts a huge 865 games every four years. By contrast, the Champions League has 125 games per season, making just 500 games every four years.

On the other hand, the Champions League is bigger financially, with a total prize pot of over $2bn, compared to the World Cup’s fund of just over $1bn. That said, the winners of the World Cup get around twice as much ($45m) as their Champions League counterparts ($22.7m).

The World Cup also has a larger TV audience worldwide, with 1.12bn people watching the 2018 final between Croatia and France, compared to just 400m watching the 2022 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool. It is estimated that 3.57bn people, more than half the world’s population, watched some of the 2018 World Cup.

Even the World Cup trophy is worth more than the Champions League version. Struck from 6.175kg of 18 karat gold, it dwarfs the UEFA trophy, which is only made of silver, although the later weighs almost twice as much.

But is it a better game?

On paper, the World Cup is much bigger than the Champions League, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. Champions League teams have all qualified on merit, and can be rightfully called the best in Europe, but the World Cup can’t claim the same. The regional groupings mean that some of the best teams in Europe fail to qualify, while Asian and African teams, who are not as good, get through.

Many also argue that the same is true of players. Whereas domestic teams are chosen on merit, assembling the best they can afford, national teams are assembled by nationality, often leaving teams with weak spots in certain areas. Club sides can plug these holes during the transfer window, picking from the best in the world, but national sides can only pick from their own country.

Domestic teams also spend all year together, working to long standing vision and values, strategy and playing styles. National teams on the other hand, only get together for a week or two, and so they don’t have the same harmony or mutual understanding. Even the best national teams on paper can still fail to perform on the pitch.

The jury is out

At the end of the day, whatever Mourinho and Ferguson may say, there is no clear winner between the two tournaments. There’s no denying that the World Cup is bigger, but it’s also clear that the Champions League has better quality sides with more cohesion. For true football fans, the quality of the Champions League is a winner, yet for the neutral, nothing gets them as engaged as the global tournament, with all its wall charts, Panini sticker books and football predictor games.

If you’d like to find out more about engaging your team with the Noise World Cup football predictor game 2022, get in touch today. It all kicks off very soon, but there’s still time to get your company football predictor game in place before the tournament.