FIFA was forced to defend its controversial competition Club World Cup today after there was another low turnout for a group stage game on Tuesday evening.

Just 3,412 people attended the match in Orlando between Ulsan HD of South Korea and South African side Mamelodi Sundowns, after 22,317 watched Chelsea’s opening game against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta, in a stadium which can hold up to 71,000 people.

The competition has been controversial since its inception and has triggered legal action from domestic leagues and player unions against Fifa over what they see as a lack of consultation by the global governing body over fixture decisions.

There have been some big crowds — with more than 80,000 people watching Paris St Germain’s victory over Atletico Madrid in Pasadena — and Fifa said on Tuesday that close to 1.5 million tickets had so far been sold.

Fifa said 340,000 fans had attended the first eight matches, which it said was a “powerful demonstration of club football’s global appeal.” It said four of the five top-selling group stage matches were still to come.

The prize money on offer is huge, with Manchester City or Chelsea standing to earn almost £100 million if they win it.

Despite that, former City defender Danny Mills described the competition as “pointless.”

He told William Hill Vegas: “It’s a made-up competition for Fifa to make money, it’s as simple as that. There is no prestige in winning the competition whatsoever.”

The competition — and Fifa president Gianni Infantino — has faced much controversy since the competition expanded (originally an annual seven-club tournament to now a 32-team super event every four years in the summer before the World Cup), with exhausted players facing an even busier schedule. 

The fact that it’s being held in President Trump’s hostile US (CWCs are held in the World Cup hosting country) has also raised much concern, as the US hands out travel bans to more and more countries.

Infantino has been criticised for his close ties to Trump — attending a Trump pre-inauguration rally, the inauguration itself and visiting the White House. 

And it was revealed this week that Fifa had dropped anti-discrimination messages from social media, videos or signage promoting the Club World Cup, despite its strong anti-discrimination messaging for previous football tournaments. 

Just last month Infantino condemned racism and said Fifa would combat it at all costs. However, Fifa have failed to respond to queries over this latest move, instead claiming that “Fifa remain neutral in matters of politics.”