Berlin (dpa) – Getting to the Club World Cup can be difficult. World coach Thomas Tuchel, who was only allowed to fly to the final of his Chelsea FC this Saturday (5:30 p.m. / Sport1) in Abu Dhabi after a positive corona test, found out.
A year ago, the mini-tournament almost became an affair within Germany when FC Bayern wanted to fly late on a Friday evening after a game at Hertha BSC as the big favorite towards the semi-finals in Doha – but were not allowed to.
Those responsible at the capital airport BER did not let the plane take off at or just after midnight, the journey took forever and the anger of those responsible at the record champions was great. After all, this Club World Cup should be won for the whole of Germany, which Bayern then succeeded in doing. The FIFA tournament rarely gets so much attention in this country.
On paper, the world association lets the six best (or most recently most internationally successful) clubs from the six confederations plus the hosts play for a gold and silver trophy. Club world champion, that doesn’t sound bad. In reality, however, the result of the Mini World Cup has been predictable for years.
Hardly any non-European winners
The last non-European winner was Corinthians São Paulo of Brazil in 2012, the UEFA Champions League winners are usually far too strong for their counterparts from other parts of the world. While Chelsea struggled to a 1-0 win over Saudi club Al Hilal in the semi-finals in the United Arab Emirates, Chelsea remain clear favorites in Saturday’s final against Palmeiras Sao Paulo. With Tuchel. The Blues published pictures on Friday evening that showed the former Bundesliga professional eating his professionals.
The Londoners are hoping to win the Club World Cup for the first time, as they were the last European club to lose a final at the end of 2012. And when a competition of the world football association no longer promises great excitement, Gianni Infantino usually comes into play.
Planned reform stalled
The busy FIFA President pushed through a reform of the Club World Cup a good three years ago against the great resistance of the Europeans. “This is a milestone for FIFA and a milestone for global club football,” said the Swiss at the time when an ominous billion-dollar offer to participate in new or reformed FIFA competitions caused a great deal of controversy.
Only the new Club World Cup with 24 instead of the current seven teams, which should be a highlight in the summer months, has been postponed for the time being. The date in summer 2021 had to be given up because the European Championship was postponed to this time window. The host country is China, which is currently showing at the Winter Olympics that the zero-Covid strategy can lead to major organizational problems at sporting events.
The debate about the future of the Club World Cup is complex – in principle, the European Football Union UEFA is not happy with the possible competitor product to its own Champions League. However, FIFA now seems to be putting the project behind the ambition of hosting the World Cup every two years instead of every four. With this massive reform, which was strictly rejected by a number of influential critics, there would hardly be any more room on the international game calendar for a big club World Cup in the summer.