It was weird.
In the middle of a sweltering July in Michigan, 109,318 people crammed into the Big House to watch Manchester United play Real Madrid. This wasn't the Champions League final. It wasn't even a meaningful league game. It was a preseason friendly under the banner of the International Champions Cup, or the ICC if you’re into acronyms. For a few years there, it felt like the center of the footballing universe had shifted to American soil and Chinese mega-cities. Then, suddenly, it just stopped.
People think the pandemic was the only reason the ICC died. Honestly, it was already getting complicated. The International Champions Cup was basically the brainchild of Relevant Sports, backed by Stephen Ross, the guy who owns the Miami Dolphins. They saw a gap. They realized that fans in New Jersey or Singapore would pay $200 a seat to see Cristiano Ronaldo’s kit in person, even if he only played forty-five minutes at half-speed.
The Rise of the Super-Friendly
Before the International Champions Cup showed up in 2013, preseason tours were a mess. Teams would fly to random countries, play a local "All-Star" team that they’d beat 8-0, and fly home. It was boring. The ICC changed the math by making the giants play each other. Real Madrid vs. Barcelona in Miami. Chelsea vs. PSG in Charlotte.
It worked because it didn't feel like a practice session. Or at least, the marketing told us it didn't. They even had a trophy. It was a giant, silver, slightly awkward-looking thing that captains like Sergio Ramos or John Terry would lift with a confused smile. But the fans bought it. Between 2013 and 2019, the ICC became the premier summer event for global soccer.
It was a logistical nightmare that somehow functioned. You’d have a squad flying from London to Perth, then to Los Angeles, then to New York, all in ten days. The players hated the travel. Managers like Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho would constantly moan about the "commercial obligations" ruining their fitness programs. But the money? The money was too good to say no to. We’re talking millions in appearance fees just for showing up.
Why the 2017 El Clasico Changed Everything
If you want to understand the peak of the International Champions Cup, you have to look at Miami in 2017. They staged El Clasico—Real Madrid vs. Barcelona—outside of Spain for the first time in decades.
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It was a circus. Hard Rock Stadium was sold out. Tickets on the secondary market were hitting four figures. Serena Williams and Tiger Woods were on the sidelines. It proved that the "Champions Cup" brand could rival the biggest sporting events in America. But it also proved something else: the clubs realized they didn't necessarily need a middleman forever.
The Slow Collapse and the Pandemic Wall
By 2019, the cracks were showing. The novelty started wearing off for the casual American sports fan. How many times can you watch a second-string Arsenal squad play a tired Bayern Munich before you realize you’re paying for a glorified scrimmage?
Then 2020 happened.
The International Champions Cup was canceled because of COVID-19, obviously. But while the world was locked down, the power dynamics of European football shifted. The "Big Six" in England and the giants of Spain and Italy started looking at their own balance sheets. They realized they could organize their own tours. They could keep 100% of the revenue instead of splitting it with a promoter.
The Ghost of the Super League
There’s a deeper, kinda cynical theory here too. Many people believe the ICC was a "soft launch" for the European Super League. Think about it. You have the same 10-12 elite clubs playing each other in a closed circuit with no relegation. That is the ICC model. When the Super League project blew up in everyone's faces in 2021, anything associated with that "closed shop" vibe became toxic.
Relevant Sports, the organizers of the International Champions Cup, shifted their focus. They stopped trying to run a summer tournament and started working with La Liga to bring official, regular-season games to the US. That’s a whole different legal battle involving FIFA and US Soccer, but it explains why the ICC trophy is currently gathering dust in a storage unit somewhere.
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What Replaced the International Champions Cup?
If you're looking for the ICC on your TV guide this summer, you won't find it. Instead, you'll see things like the "Soccer Champions Tour" or the "Premier League Summer Series."
It’s basically the same thing, just fragmented. The Premier League realized they were a stronger brand than the International Champions Cup. Why let someone else run the show? In 2023, they launched their own official preseason tournament in the US. It felt more "official," even though the stakes were exactly the same—zero.
- The Individual Club Tour: Manchester United and Liverpool now often book their own venues and choose their own opponents.
- The Regional Promoters: Local promoters in Australia or Japan are outbidding the old ICC structures for specific high-profile games.
- The FIFA Factor: FIFA is expanding the Club World Cup. This is the real "ICC killer." With a massive, official FIFA tournament coming to the US in 2025, the space for a "fake" champions cup has narrowed to almost nothing.
Was It Actually Good for Soccer?
Honestly, it depends on who you ask.
If you’re a kid in Ohio who finally got to see Mo Salah score a goal in person, the International Champions Cup was a miracle. It brought the mountain to Mohammed. It grew the game in the US more than twenty years of MLS marketing ever could.
But if you’re a sports scientist? It was a disaster. Players were being pushed to their breaking points. We saw a spike in ACL injuries and muscle tears in August and September because stars were playing 90 minutes in 95-degree heat in Texas just to satisfy a contract.
The quality of play was also... questionable. Let's be real. It was slow. It was tactical experimentation mixed with "don't get hurt" energy. But for the sponsors? It was a goldmine. Guinness, Heineken, Audi—they all poured millions into the ICC because it was the only way to reach that specific demographic of "young, affluent soccer fan" during the summer doldrums of the MLB season.
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How to Follow Preseason Now (The ICC Playbook)
Since the International Champions Cup is effectively dead in its original format, following your team in the summer requires a bit more legwork. You can't just check one website anymore.
First, look at the individual club websites around March or April. That’s when the "US Tour" or "Asia Tour" announcements drop. Usually, these games are still clustered in the same cities the ICC loved: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Chicago.
Second, don't buy tickets the second they go on sale unless you’re desperate. These stadiums are massive. Unless it’s a tiny venue or a massive rivalry like the Madrid derby, tickets usually settle in price closer to the date.
Third, check the "roster guarantees." This was the big controversy with the International Champions Cup. Fans would show up, and the stars would be on vacation after the Euros or the World Cup. Always check if there was a major international tournament that summer. If there was, the big names will likely be sitting on a beach in Ibiza while the teenagers play in New Jersey.
The Future of Global Summer Football
The spirit of the International Champions Cup lives on, even if the brand is gone. We are moving toward a world where the "preseason" doesn't really exist anymore. It’s just "Season Phase 1: The Commercial Tour."
The upcoming 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is the final evolution of what the ICC started. It’s a 32-team tournament. It’s competitive. It’s official. It takes the "best vs. best" concept of the ICC and gives it actual stakes.
In a way, the ICC was a proof of concept. It proved that the world wanted to see the elite clubs play, no matter where they were or what time it was. It changed the way clubs look at their "off-season." They don't rest anymore; they colonize new markets.
Actionable Steps for the Modern Fan
If you're planning to catch a game this summer in the post-ICC era, here’s what you actually need to do:
- Follow "Relevant Sports" and "Direct Club Feeds": They still control much of the logistics for these big games, even if the "Champions Cup" name isn't on the banner.
- Wait for the 15-Day Window: Never book non-refundable travel for a preseason game until about 15 days out. Managers often change locations or cancel sessions at the last minute if the pitch quality isn't up to par—something that happened multiple times during the old ICC days.
- Verify the Venue Surface: If you're a purist, check if they are laying temporary grass over turf. If it's "tray grass" over an NFL field, the game will be slower and the players will be more cautious.
- Manage Expectations: Remember that you are paying for an exhibition. The International Champions Cup was great at hiding that fact with flashy graphics, but at the end of the day, it's a training session in front of 80,000 people. Enjoy the atmosphere, get the jersey, but don't expect a Champions League level of intensity.