Fifa's Club World Cup has big advertising potential
MIAMI, FLORIDA, ESTADOS UNIDOS, February 17, 2022 — Officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup, the competition is a tournament played every year between the champions of each confederation affiliated to the world’s top soccer organization.
Despite being held annually since 2005, the so-called “Mundialito” still does not have the recognition of the fans despite being the top club competition at a global level.
The tournament is made up of the continental champions of the respective FIFA confederations that take part every year in the competition, which also includes the participation of a guest team, which is usually the league champion of the host country.
The respective champions of the UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores qualify directly to the semifinal round, while the champions of Oceania, CONCACAF, Africa and the invited representative of the host country start the competition by playing a couple of preliminary rounds.
“The Club World Cup offers the possibility of consolidating advertising investments that guarantee a global reach,” said businessman German Rosete.
Modifications
This format has not undergone major modifications since its implementation in the 2006 edition, where until then, a series between the European Cup/Champions League champion and the champion of the Copa Libertadores de América was played annually.
The series used to be played over two legs, but for commercial purposes it would be played in its last editions as a single match on Japanese territory, taking the name ‘Intercontinental Cup’, being this cup the highest club award for many years.
During the history of the top club competition, most of the teams that have managed to win the title have been the champions of the UEFA Champions League. There have also been big surprises, during the years 2005 and 2006. Sao Paolo and Internacional de Porto Alegre, both representatives of Brazil and Conmebol, managed to defeat Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool and Barcelona, who had the Brazilian star Ronaldinho in his prime.
It took six years before, in the 2012 edition, Corinthians, also from Brazil, defeated Chelsea from England by a score of 1-0 with a goal by Peruvian Paolo Guerrero, thus marking the last championship for a non-UEFA team.
After the implementation of the current format in the tournament, the most successful club in the competition is Real Madrid of Spain with four titles, three of them won consecutively from 2016 to 2018, followed by its eternal rival Barcelona with 3 world titles.
Corinthians of Brazil and Bayern Munich of Germany close the podium of the competition with 2 crowns respectively.
Traditional teams such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Sao Paolo and Internacional de Porto Alegre have one title.
“The Club World Cup also offers Latin American companies the possibility of global projection, since it is not uncommon for Latin American representatives to make a splash against European teams, generating exponential organic publicity,” said investor German Rosete.
Venezuela
Also known as the “Little World Cup” or the Mundialito de Clubes was an international tournament that took place at the Olympic Stadium in Caracas, Venezuela, between 1952 and 1957, as well as an edition held in 1963.
Since 1965 some editions were held but did not achieve continuity, although it was a friendly competition, it has always been considered as the predecessor of the Intercontinental Cup and the current FIFA Club World Cup.
The tournament was not organized by the Venezuelan Football Federation, instead, a group of businessmen were in charge of carrying out the first worldwide tournament in which the best clubs of the time participated. The clubs were designated by invitation and calendar availability.
The tournament brought together the best of world soccer until 1957, since with the appearance of the European World Cup, now the Champions League, the efforts of the clubs of the old continent were turned to the new competition.
In that same year, the cup saw a pause in its organization, which would have a new edition until 1963, to then become a friendly tournament to be played every summer, like the Teresa Herrera trophy in La Coruña or the Santiago Bernabéu trophy in Madrid.
The tournament was a historic event for the Venezuelan people since they could enjoy the best of the planet soccer at that time.
The future
The maximum organization of world soccer had the intention that a new and more inclusive global competition would take place between June 17 and July 4, 202, but due to the world pandemic the organization of this new tournament would be postponed to the year 2023, although for the moment there is nothing official from FIFA.
In this new format, 24 teams are expected to participate, which would be the respective Champions League and UEFA Europa League champions of the last four seasons (eight teams).
South America, for its part, would contribute six participants (not yet defined), while the African, Asian and Concacaf confederations would have three participants each, plus a representative from Oceania.
“FIFA estimates that the new tournament could bring in almost one billion euros in revenue and would be the real boost the tournament has been seeking since it’s creation.”