The Saudi Arabian football champions Al-Ittihad opened the last Club World Cup in the usual format with a victory.
The team of handsomely paid French goalscorers Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante defeated Auckland City from New Zealand 3-0 (3-0) in the qualifying game for the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Al-Ittihad will challenge Al-Ahly Cairo in the round of the last eight.
After a year’s break, the already not particularly popular tournament will be expanded to 32 teams from 2025, with the USA being the first host. However, there are still only seven teams playing in Saudi Arabia, with the favored clubs such as Champions League winners Manchester City and Copa Libertadores champions Fluminense Rio de Janeiro only entering the semi-finals (December 18th/19th).
In two years, all six confederations will receive starting places, and Europe alone will then be represented by twelve teams. Manchester City, Real Madrid and Chelsea FC will be seeded as Champions League winners in recent years.