Seven teams will play for the title of Club World Champion in Saudi Arabia from Tuesday. It is the last edition in this form and will be massively upgraded from 2025.
The Club World Cup is starting and hardly anyone in Germany is taking notice. That will soon change, even if no club from the Bundesliga is represented.
The world association FIFA followed the wishes of its president Gianni Infantino and decided that from 2025 a World Cup with 32 teams should be held every four years, with prize money multiplying.
The current version with seven teams will be held for the last time for the foreseeable future. It starts on Tuesday (December 12th, 2023) with the game between Al-Ittihad and Auckland City.
Who participates?
Six confederations are united in FIFA, and the winner of the main club competition in each of these confederations receives the right to start. The winner of the Champions League takes part from Europe and the UEFA area.
Europe: Manchester City (England)
South America: Fluminense FC (Brazil)
Africa: Al Ahly SC (Egypt)
Asia: Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan)
North and Central America: Club Leòn (Mexico)
Oceania: Auckland City (New Zealand)
Host Saudi Arabia will also receive a starting place. This is taken by champions al-Ittihad FC.
Where is the game played?
The games will be played in the Saudi port city of Jeddah, which is home to Al-Ittihad. It is played in two stadiums, one of which holds more than 60,000 spectators and the other less than 30,000.
What is the mode?
The tournament will be played entirely in knockout mode. Manchester City and Fluminense are seeded for the semi-finals. The English champions will face the winner of the game between Club León and Urawa Red Diamonds. Fluminense will face the winner of the game between Al Ahly SC and the winner from Al-Ittihad/Auckland City.
The final will take place on December 22nd.
What is there to earn?
The winner receives a bonus of five million US dollars, which currently corresponds to around 4.6 million euros. About $3.7 million goes to the losing finalist. The loser of the first round game between Al-Ittihad and Auckland will receive around 464,000 euros.
What’s next for the Club World Cup?
The first major edition with 32 teams will be played in the summer of 2025 in the USA, which will also host the World Cup for national teams a year later together with Mexico and Canada.
The winners of the Champions League 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 are sure to be there. In addition, there are the best eight teams in a UEFA ranking list over four years. A maximum of two teams per country are allowed to participate via the coefficient; the total limit is four per country.
A kind of B World Cup is planned for 2024 and the following years between the big tournaments. The winner of the European Champions League will meet a team at a neutral location that the other continental associations will have previously determined in playoffs.