After wrapping up the most miracuolous of Champions League triumphs with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool in Paris, Real Madrid will be aiming to win their fifth FIFA Club World Cup in February.
Teams from every corner of the globe will be competing in Morocco over the next ten days with Real and Copa Libertadores champions Flamengo joining the tournament at the semi-final stage. The two sides are poised to collide in a mouth-watering match-up in Rabat on 11 February.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup.
Seven teams from across the globe will compete in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup. Here they are:
The competition, which begins on 1 February and concludes ten days later, is being held in two Moroccan cities: Rabat and Tangier.
The two finalists will meet in Rabat on Sunday 11 February. Kick off for the FIFA Club World Cup final is scheduled for 20:00 local time (19:00 BST).
Fox Sports holds the broadcasting rights in the US, while Channel 4 typically holds the rights in the UK. However, it has not been confirmed whether they will be streaming the tournament on this occasion given there is no English participant.
Teams qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup by winning their continent’s most prestigious club competition, which are:
For this year’s competition, scheduling issues with the final of the 2022 AFC Champions League meant Al-Hilal were nominated as the continent’s representatives as reigning 2021 Champions League holders.
The host nation’s national league champions also qualify, though Wydad Casablanca won both the 2021/22 CAF Champions League and Morocco’s Botola title, so Al Ahly took Morocco’s host spot to qualify, though their participation wasn’t confirmed until December.
The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup took place in February 2022 and it was then UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea who came out on top.
A strike from Romelu Lukaku eliminated Al-Hilal before he put them 1-0 up against Palmeiras in the final in Abu Dhabi. Raphael Vega’s equaliser took the game to extra time, where Kai Havertz would slot a penalty to earn the Blues the trophy.
Real Madrid are the most successful team in FIFA Club World Cup history, winning the competition on no fewer than four occasions.
Those titles complemented the four UEFA Champions League crowns they won in the 2010s during a glory period for Los Blancos, firstly under Carlo Ancelottin and then Zinedine Zidane.
Barcelona have won the tournament three times, coming in 2009, 2011 and 2015, though they were defeated finalists in 2006 as Adriano Gabiru netted the winner in the 82nd minute.
Corinthians and Bayern Munich have been successful on two occasions, while English sides Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United have won the tournament once.
