The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup has been a tournament that has drawn a lot of scrutiny in recent months. Beginning last weekend, 32 club teams from around the world have come to the United States for this revamped tournament that FIFA wants to be the crown jewel of club soccer.

It’s also been viewed as a tournament that FIFA hopes will be the jumpstart of excitement for the 2026 World Cup, which debuts just under a year from now. For soccer fans in DC, there is no World Cup matches to be excited about attending here in the DMV (the reasons why could form a book). So when Audi Field was selected as a venue for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, it represented the lone opportunity for local fans to see competitive international soccer. The city and region – from DC south to Richmond and north to Baltimore – who watches more soccer than anyone in the United States had a prime chance to show the international soccer community that the District of Columbia is American soccer’s heartbeat.

So, despite massive amounts of rain that dropped to create a very muggy Wednesday evening, scores of fans headed to Audi Field for the Club World Cup match between Juventus FC and the UAE’s Al Ain FC. One of the bigger teams in this tournament, Juventus fans were everywhere in their world famous white-and-black striped jerseys. But Al Ain, who will play two matches at Audi Field in the group stage, had a ton of fans in their purple and white in attendance. FIFA president Gianni Infantino was also in attendance, which added some importance – no matter what you think of Infantino – to the first of three Club World Cup matches at the nearly 7-year-old stadium at Buzzard Point.

What certainly made fans very excited was the opportunity to see two USMNT players play in DC. Weston McKennie and Tim Weah both are important players for Juventus, and their presence created some extra energy in the stands. While it was Weah’s first match at Audi Field, Weston McKennie was on the field for the second time in his career.

The last time he was at Audi Field, he set a USMNT record for the fastest hat trick ever when he scored in the 1st, 5th, and 13th minute of a 7-0 U.S. win over Cuba in their first ever Concacaf Nations League match in October 2019. Last night, McKennie stepped onto the field with the captain’s armband for the first time to lead Juventus. Tim Weah entered the match to start the second half, giving fans a chance to see both Americans on the field at the same time.

Juventus didn’t have the only Americans on the field. Standing as the center referee was Tori Penso, who in 2023 became the first American referee to officiate a World Cup final when she was the center referee for the 2023 Women’s World Cup final between England and eventual champions Spain.

The crowd for the match – boisterous. It was easily one of the best atmospheres that we have seen so far in the Club World Cup. Juventus fans were loud from the moment players came onto the field for warmups, while Al Ain had a supporters section provide the drumbeat for the entire match as their fans around the stadium joined in. “It was good. I was really surprised. Honestly, DC had a good show up,” Tim Weah said of the atmosphere in postmatch remarks. “That was a wonderful crowd tonight, and hopefully we get [a good crowd] the next [time].”

The Club World Cup has so far been much maligned for matches having paltry attendance numbers and, with the exception of a few matches, void of any true atmosphere. As the stadium filled in, it became clear that despite the rain, the muggy temperatures, and the 9:00pm kickoff, this match would visually and audibly be one of the best matches that the tournament has seen to this point.

The official attendance: 18,161, a big number that surely pleased FIFA as well as DC United and Audi Field. With the stadium at 90.8% capacity, it’s far and away the closest to full a stadium has been so far in the 2025 Club World Cup. It’s a testament to the fans that showed up despite the weather conditions and the late kickoff to see some exciting soccer. The get in ticket prices on Ticketmaster a few hours before the match hovered around $55, but all of the tickets listed on Ticketmaster were resale. And almost everyone eventually showed up.

The soccer on the field was exciting as well. Despite Juventus winning 5-0, both teams gave fans plenty to cheer about throughout the match. The energy was palpable, and Juventus credited the huge fan support for the win. “It’s very important,” Juventus defender Alberto Costa said after the match. “They pushed the team to do big thing, and it’s very important and [we’re] grateful for the support.” “[The crowd’s energy was] very nice. We are everywhere I can say, and we are happy to see [all the] fans,” forward Kenan Yildiz added.

It was a magical night for DC’s vibrant soccer community. The only thing that really went wrong was the main jumbotron having a malfunction late in the first half.

The scoreboard remained like that through the end of the first half, but then magically it corrected itself just in time for a music video by legendary pop star Robbie Williams.

In the end, Audi Field was loud. It was energetic. It was the Rowdy Audi vibe that we’ve seen during Washington Spirit matches or the boisterous Buzzard Point magic we all felt in the early days of the stadium’s history. That passion was felt in every corner of Audi Field, on the concourse, and on the field. It created the best visual presentation thus far of what the Club World Cup can be so long as all invested parties do their best to market these matches and make them accessible to as many fans as possible.

There will be two more Club World Cup matches at Audi Field in the next week: Red Bull Salzburg-Al Hilal on Sunday and Al Ain-Wydad AC next Thursday. The USWNT comes to town the week after that to face Canada in a friendly being dubbed the Continental Clásico. That’s three more chances for DC to show they’re some of the best soccer fans in the world, but we don’t have to prove ourselves. Last night was example #47291984 that this town knows ball and can show up and show out better than anywhere, no matter the occasion.