After a group stage played in front of more than 1 million empty seats, the Club World Cup moves on to knockout rounds that could soon resemble a Champions League clone.
Nine teams that advanced to the round of 16 are from Europe along with four from Brazil and one each from Major League Soccer, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
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A small number of fans watches the Club World Cup group A soccer match between Palmeiras and Al Ahly in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A generl view of the TQL Stadium is seen before the Club World Cup Group F soccer match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Borussia Dortmund in Cincinnati, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
A fan from Atletico Madrid cheers prior to the Club World Cup Group B soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Botafogo in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Greg Bull)
Fans take their seats for the Club World Cup group F soccer match between Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund in East Rutherford, N.J., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Seats are empty during the Club World Cup Group F soccer match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Fluminense in Miami Gardens, Fla., Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
About 56.7% of publicly listed capacity was filled for the 48 group stage matches, which included crowds of 3,412 and 6,730 in Orlando, Florida; 5,282 and 8,239 in Cincinnati. FIFA did not provide specific capacities for the tournament despite repeated requests from The Associated Press.
Total announced attendance was 1.67 million from 2.95 million capacity, an average of 34,746.
Just 44.9% was filled for five matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the site of next year's World Cup final, and 50% at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, where the 1994 championship game was played.
Among other 2026 sites, 81.8% of capacity was filled in Miami Gardens, Florida, 61.6% in Philadelphia, 52% in Seattle and 44.3% in Atlanta.
FIFA spokesman Bryan Swanson did not respond to a request for FIFA President Gianni Infantino to discuss the tournament and attendance. FIFA issued a statement that said: “The appetite of the tournament speaks for itself: fans from 168 countries have already purchased tickets ... a clear sign of global anticipation and reach.”
The 12 games televised with English commentary on TNT, TBS and truTV averaged 360,000 viewers through Monday, including 409,000 for seven matches on nights and weekends.
The second round opens Saturday with an all-Brazilian matchup of Palmeiras and Botafogo, followed by Chelsea-Benfica later in the day.
Sunday starts with the high-profile meeting of Inter Miami and Lionel Messi against European champion Paris Saint-Germain and is followed by Bayern Munich-Flamengo.
Inter Milan-Fluminese and Manchester City-Al Hilal are on Monday, and Real Madrid-Juventus and Borussia Dortmund-Monterrey on Tuesday.
European teams won 16 of the 17 previous editions of an eight-team Club World Cup, the lone exception a 2012 victory by Brazil’s Corinthians over Chelsea.
Manchester City is the only team that went 3-0 in the group stage.
Five of the 12 stadiums being used are sites for next year's World Cup, which will have 104 matches instead of 64 and many more games lacking prestigious teams and players.
There were five weather delays in the Club World Cup group stage and temperatures at times rose well over 90 degrees (32 Celsius), a sign that climate change could impact next year’s World Cup. However, four of the stadiums for next year's tournament have roofs and climate control.
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, among soccer's top stars, didn’t play a minute of the group stage, having been hospitalized and treated for acute gastroenteritis. He drew attention this week when the Paris prosecutor’s office said he filed a moral harassment case against PSG, his former club.
“I don’t want to be optimistic and get ahead of myself, but we need him because he’s a top player, one of the best in the world. We hope he’s back soon,” Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said Thursday.
Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner who turned 38 on Tuesday, has helped Miami reach the knockout phase with moments of brilliance. He hit the goal frame twice in the opening draw against Al Ahly, then scored his 68th free kick goal for club and country in the 2-1 win over Porto.
Next up is the game against PSG, Messi’s team from 2021-23.
All four entrants from Brazil have advanced to the round of 16, with Botafogo beating PSG 1-0 in a matchup of current European and South American champions. Flamengo, Palmeiras and Fluminense are also through to the next stage.
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A small number of fans watches the Club World Cup group A soccer match between Palmeiras and Al Ahly in East Rutherford, N.J., Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A generl view of the TQL Stadium is seen before the Club World Cup Group F soccer match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Borussia Dortmund in Cincinnati, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
A fan from Atletico Madrid cheers prior to the Club World Cup Group B soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Botafogo in Pasadena, Calif., Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Greg Bull)
Fans take their seats for the Club World Cup group F soccer match between Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund in East Rutherford, N.J., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Seats are empty during the Club World Cup Group F soccer match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Fluminense in Miami Gardens, Fla., Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday directed his administration to speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, which recently has been embraced by combat veterans and conservative lawmakers despite having serious safety risks.
Ibogaine and other psychedelics remain banned under the federal government's most restrictive category for illegal, high-risk drugs. But the administration is taking steps to ease restrictions and spur research on using the drugs for medical purposes, including conditions like severe depression.
“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life,” Trump said as he signed an executive order on the drugs. The Republican president said his directive will help “dramatically accelerate” access to potential treatments. "If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's going to have a tremendous impact,” he said.
Veteran organizations and psychedelic advocates have long contended that the ibogaine, which is made from a shrub native to West Africa, has great promise for hard-to-treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction.
Trump’s announcement follows pledges by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials to ease access to psychedelics for medical use, an issue that has won rare bipartisan support.
Joining Trump in the Oval Office were his top health officials, conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and Marcus Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan was the basis of the film “Lone Survivor.” Rogan said he texted Trump information on ibogaine and the president responded: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it.”
“You’re going to save a lot of lives through it,” Luttrell told Trump during the ceremony. “It absolutely changed my life for the better.”
The Food and Drug Administration next week will issue national priority vouchers for three psychedelics, which the agency's commissioner, Marty Makary, said will allow certain drugs to be approved quickly “if they are in line with our national priorities.” The vouchers can cut review times from several months to a period of weeks. It is the first time the FDA has offered that fast-tracking to any psychedelics.
The FDA is also taking steps to clear the way for the first-ever human trials of ibogaine in the U.S.
Trump's action surprised many longtime advocates and researchers in the psychedelic field, given that ibogaine is known to sometimes trigger potentially fatal heart problems. The National Institutes of Health briefly funded research on the drug in the 1990s, but discontinued the work due to ibogaine's "cardiovascular toxicity.”
“It’s been incredibly difficult to study ibogaine in the U.S. because of its known cardiotoxicity,” said Frederick Barrett, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “If the executive order can pave the way for doing objective, scientific research with this compound, it would help us understand whether it is truly a better psychedelic therapy than others.”
No psychedelic has been approved in the United States, but a number of them are being studied in large trials for various mental health conditions, including psilocybin, MDMA and LSD. All those drugs remain illegal, classified as Schedule I substances alongside drugs such as heroin. Two states — Oregon and Colorado — have legalized psychedelic therapy with psilocybin.
Ibogaine was first used by members of the Bwiti religion in African nations like Gabon during their religious ceremonies.
In recent years, U.S. veterans have reported benefiting from the drug after traveling to clinics in Mexico that administer it.
Backing from veterans groups and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry led to a law last year providing $50 million for ibogaine research in that state. Perry, who co-founded a group called Americans for Ibogaine, recently appeared on Rogan’s podcast, making the case for reducing federal limits on the drug. It was his second time talking about ibogaine on the popular podcast in the past two years.
The drug is known to cause irregular heart rhythms and has been linked to more than 30 deaths in the medical literature, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that conducted some early studies in patients outside the U.S.
The group's co-executive director, Ismail Lourido Ali, said Trump's order might encourage other states to follow the Texas model.
“The stigma around Schedule I drugs is significant,” Ali said. “It feels like this would give pretty substantial cover for Republican governors and legislatures to step into the ring in terms of funding research programs at their universities.”
Owners of ibogaine clinics said the impact of the order will not be immediate.
“There will be no insurance coverage, it will still be considered unapproved and non-covered care,” said Tom Feegel of Beond Ibogaine, which operates a clinic in Cancun, Mexico. “But what it does mean is that ibogaine shifts from being fringe and underground to being federally acknowledged.”
Feegel says his clinic treated 2,000 people with ibogaine last year for between $15,000 and $20,000 per person. The company also gave free treatment to about 100 veterans.
Clinics that use the drug typically monitor patients’ heart readings and have emergency medical equipment on hand.
One of the only recent studies conducted by U.S. researchers found that veterans treated with ibogaine showed improvements in symptoms of traumatic brain injury, including PTSD, depression and anxiety. The Stanford University study was small — enrolling 30 veterans who received the drug in Mexico. It did not include a placebo group for comparison, an essential feature of rigorous medical research. Patients in the study received a combination of ibogaine mixed with magnesium intended to reduce heart risks.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Joe Rogan laughs as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
