The tournament to be held in the presence of 6 teams who succeeded in winning the continental championship for the past season, they are Chelsea of England, Monterrey of Mexico, Palmeiras of Brazil, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, Al Ahly of Egypt and AS Perai of Tahiti.
In addition, the tournament will be decorated with the participation of the local champion of the host country, the Emirati Al-Jazira, who will start the competitions from the preliminary round against the Oceania champion “AS Perai”.
As much as the Club World Cup has experienced stability over the past few years, the idea suffered from its inception more than 100 years ago.
According to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the intention to hold the Club World Cup was present before the creation of the World Cup for national teams. Indeed, the competitions began in 1909 and continued until 1911, with the participation of English, German and Swiss teams.
European rejection
In 1960, the unofficial “Intercontinental” tournament was launched between the champions of the European League and the South American League, to get out of its womb the idea of gathering the champions of the continents and establishing a tournament under the name of the Club World Cup.
The idea that came to light in 1973, and the French newspaper “L’Equipe” announced its sponsorship and hosting in Paris, in the presence of four champions from 4 continents, namely Europe, Africa and the Americas, but soon faded due to the negative reaction of European clubs, followed by a rejection from “UEFA” in 1975.
Italian mentality
The idea of establishing the Club World Cup remained in the minds of football makers around the world, until the Italian Silvio Berlusconi, the former president of Milan, presented to the Executive Office of FIFA, the project for the current championship for the World Cup in 1993.
After a long study period that lasted for 5 years, FIFA decided to organize the first tournament for the Club World Cup in 1999 and assign its hosting to Brazil, before it was postponed one year to launch the first edition in 2000, with the attendance of 8 teams, and the first match was between the Spanish teams Real Madrid and the Saudi victory.
The first edition also featured Moroccan Raja, the 1999 African Champions League champion, and Al-Nassr, the 1998 Asian Super Cup, which was won by the Brazilian Corinthians team.
Economic importance
“The World Cup represents a wonderful economic importance for clubs and FIFA,” thus began the sports critic Islam Al-Bashbeshi’s talk about the World Cup teams competitions, noting that besides the technical benefit, there are other economic aspects that belong to the participating teams and the organizing federation.
Al-Bashbeshi said in exclusive statements to Sky News Arabia: “The tournament prizes amount to 5 million dollars for the winner of the title, 4 million dollars for the runner-up, two and a half million dollars for the third place holder, and two million dollars for the fourth place, in addition to 1.5 million dollars, and one million dollars for the fifth and sixth places.”
He continued: “These prizes are not only the material benefit, but are multiplied by economic advantages of marketing and sponsorship rights. The team that participates in the Club World Cup does not have the same sponsorship rights with its compatriot who is far from those global competitions, which everyone watches in various parts of the world.”
He continued, “FIFA is interested in helping the clubs and also helping itself, as the International Federation obtains sponsorship and marketing rights for the tournament that exceed millions, in addition to that it is a technically enjoyable tournament that delights fans and football fans in the world.”
Sports critic Muhammad Al-Saw agreed with the financial and marketing importance of the Club World Cup, saying: “The tournament creates several outlets for each team to market itself in terms of shirts or introduce its history to all followers, as well as the possibility of signing a twinning between clubs and each other.”
strong friction
Al-Saw added, in statements to Sky News Arabia: “The tournament at the technical level is excellent and important for all participating clubs, especially for the Egyptian Al-Ahly Club, and it is also a good opportunity to increase the friction between the different schools on the level of the participating continents.”
And he continued: “At the European level, represented by the English club Chelsea, is a championship during which it seeks to achieve an additional title that it retains in its history, and the “Blues” in particular is a club that needs to win the championship for the first time and put its name with the clubs that won the title from England, especially after losing the title. before for Corinthians in Brazil in 2012 in Japan.
In the same context, Adel Mahmoud, the former right-back of Al-Ahly club, spoke about the importance of the Red Castle’s participation in the Club World Cup, especially since it is the second most participating team in the tournament throughout its history.
Mahmoud said in exclusive statements to Sky News Arabia: “Collecting the largest clubs in the world in one tournament is wonderful, and gives the champions of the continents greater distinction, increases the strength of friction between the continents of the world, and gives you a greater opportunity to develop and try to keep pace with European clubs and the players of the Americas.”
He concluded: “Apart from the marketing importance that Al-Ahly club officials rely on to participate in the Club World Cup, the Red Genie will not have the opportunity to face teams such as Bayern Munich, Chelsea, or the Brazilian Palmeiras officially, except in the Club World Cup.”