Fans are coming together in a festive atmosphere to enjoy the FIFA Club World Cup™, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in an address to the FIFA Executive Summit in Miami, Florida. His comments were echoed by Ronaldo, the two-time FIFA World Cup™ winner with Brazil, who described the atmosphere around the inaugural 32-team tournament as “amazing”. The FIFA Executive Football Summit, started in 2016, is a platform for dialogue and exchange between FIFA Member Associations (MAs) and the FIFA leadership and, during his address, the FIFA President also spoke of the importance of investing in places where children can play football. The inaugural 32-team edition of the tournament, being played in 12 incredible venues across 11 cities, has enjoyed a successful start with matches played in front of passionate crowds. CA Boca Juniors fans turned a slice of Miami’s coastline into “Boca Beach” ahead of their match against SL Benfica at the Hard Rock Stadium, draping the shores of Bark Beach in the club’s blue and yellow.

"It brings players from all over the world together, fans from all over the world, and it shows that the world of football needed another (FIFA) World Cup, another occasion to meet," said the FIFA President. "We need occasions to bring people together in a festive atmosphere and we've seen it again here in Miami, in Los Angeles, and in the other cities where matches took place and will take place." He added that supporters just wanted to enjoy themselves. "Fans, they come to enjoy, to have fun, to have a good time. They don't come with other ideas in their mind. Whatever some people might think or write, they come to spend a good moment. The players, they are engaged, they want to win, they want to play, they want to show the world who is the real world champion." Ronaldo mentioned the rousing atmosphere SE Palmeiras fans created for their match against FC Porto at the MetLife Stadium in New York New Jersey. "We saw the Palmeiras supporters yesterday in New York. We see here the Argentine Boca Juniors supporters everywhere. So, it’s just amazing to be living this moment here, and we hope that we can help, as the football world, that we can help the world to feel a little bit happier and see the world a little bit better than what we see around the world," he said.

Mr Infantino also spoke about the FIFA Forward Programme under which every MA receives up to USD 8 million during the third cycle of the programme to invest in operational costs and tailor-made development projects such as infrastructure or organising competitions. “(The FIFA Forward Programme) has to be focused, of course, on football and football development; on girls and boys; or men and women; on infrastructure,” the FIFA President said. “We need places, locations where children can play. We are investing in that. We don't need office space, we don't need to organise meetings, we need to organise competitions, we need to organise games, and this is our main priority.”

Ronaldo added that the United States was an example that others could follow. “I have to say that I’d love to see other countries, my country, of course, invest in football the way (the) US invests in kids and women’s football. So, we can make a lot more investment in football. As President Gianni (Infantino) said, we can do better. Every year we can do better, we can invest in football, give better conditions to new players, to the women’s (game),” he said.

“We can do a lot more. We have a great example with the US, the way they’re doing (it), how football (is) growing in (the) US. So, (it’s) the example to watch.”

The first Summit featured 68 MAs and included an address from FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström, a panel discussion with 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ winner Heather O’Reilly and Ronaldo, and four breakout sessions for participants to discuss a range of strategic topics, namely FIFA women’s football competitions, FIFA youth football competitions, FIFA Series and FIFA Forward together with other FIFA activities. Two additional Summits are also planned in the coming days with the remaining MAs.