Away from the caffeinated and the caipirinha’d, the appeal for many was the unusual match-ups of teams whose orbits would never normally cross.
Speaking on the World Football podcast, Real Madrid fan Eduardo Alvarez felt the tournament lived up to his positive expectations.
“In some matches, there were just not enough fans or the pitches were not up to the standard we are used to seeing, but the fact is that it’s football, and football is fun,” he says.
“When you have the chance to see Flamengo-Bayern Munich or Inter Miami and PSG, a fantastic Manchester City-Al-Hilal [match], I think the tournament has been a lot of fun.”
But in Spain, where one game a day was sublicensed to Mediaset Espana channels, Alvarez’s compatriots have found it hard to turn their attention away from transfer rumours.
“There’s a bit of that, sure. The silly season is huge in Spain. No Barcelona [in the tournament] and Atletico were eliminated in the first round so a good portion of Spanish fans have been less interested,” he says.
“But the most interesting matches have been followed, no doubt, and the semi-finals were a hit.”
In France, where terrestrial channel TF1 has only been given two matches by Dazn, one of which is the final, other sport has overshadowed most of the tournament, according to Paris-based journalist Bruno Ahoyo.
“People were more into the Women’s Euros and the women’s friendlies [beforehand] than the PSG games,” Ahoyo says.
“But from the PSG-Bayern game [in the quarter-finals], I started to see jerseys in the city. I heard people on the Metro speaking about it, especially the kids who are on vacation now, asking their parents how they can watch it.”
