The Club World Cup: An alternative scheme

By: Ian Rose | December 10th, 2007

With the FIFA Club World Cup in full swing, the time’s come round again to criticize the format of the tournament. For my part, I’m glad that there’s a consistent world championship format that gives a chance for the best from Europe and South America (and the rest) to compete. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement.

With the ridiculously full schedule of top football clubs, it’s hard to fit this tournament anywhere else, but the timing seems a bit off. Even putting it in January, on the break between the Champions League group and knockout stages, seems like an improvement. But timing isn’t my main point here. I would like to see the tournament expanded, even if it means only holding it every two years.

Right now, there are seven contestants, including the champions of the continental cups of Europe, South America, North/Central America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, as well as the champion of the host country, Japan. If I had my way (and I know the problems that come along with this), I would expand it to include two teams each from each of the six continents, with the Japanese and second Asian side playing for the twelfth and final spot. That might not go over so well with the hosts, but if Japan were to lose their place as permanent host, this would be a decent chance for whoever hosted the tournament to have their domestic champion be a part of the Cup.

With 12 teams instead of seven, we could have a preliminary round in which the six continental runners up and the two lowest-ranked champions compete, followed by a second quarterfinal round where they would be joined by the four top champions. There’s been a lot of talk about Oceania getting a raw deal in the current format, so a policy could be implemented to award seeding rank based on the results of the last Club World Cup. In other words, if an Aussie team could manage to progress decently in the tournament and make the semifinals, Oceania could grab one of those top-four champion spots the next time around, forcing one of the bigger continents to take the longer road the next time.

Aside from being a fairer format, I think an expanded Club World Cup would be good in a number of ways. First, it provides another reward for the winners of the second-level continental cups. (Hence why this article is in the UEFA Cup blog). Winners of the UEFA Cup, Copa Sudamericana, and other second-level cups would get the second entry for their continent and get a chance to compete in the Club World Cup. Also, it would introduce more local rivalry, and so more fan interest, to the tournament. Boca Juniors and AC Milan obviously care about beating each other, but how excited do the fans really get about it? Compare that to the possibility of Milan facing off with Sevilla and/or Boca facing off with Internazionale from Brazil. I think the mix of intercontinental variety and regional rivalries would really ignite a lot more interest in this tournament.

Anyway, just a thought. Good luck to Milan as they prepare to take on Urawa Reds on Thursday, in the run-up to the almost inevitable Milan-Boca final.