FIFA Club World Cup

Lore & Background

The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000, running in parallel with the Intercontinental Cup. In 2005, the Intercontinental Cup was merged with the FIFA Club World Championship, and in 2006 the tournament was renamed the FIFA Club World Cup. The winner receives the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a FIFA Champions Badge. Real Madrid hold the record for most titles with five. Corinthians' inaugural victory remains the best result from a host nation's national league champions. Teams from Spain have won eight times, the most for any nation. England has the largest number of winning teams, with four clubs having won the tournament.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hum to life over a packed stadium in the desert heat. Your manager, a 23-year-old academy graduate you've guided from the lower divisions, stands in the technical area with a hand on the clipboard and a jaw set like stone. Across the pitch, the European champions line up in their familiar stripes, their captain tapping the ball with the easy confidence of a side that has won everything on their continent. The commentary booth crackles to life. The referee's whistle splits the night air. Fourteen minutes remain in the second half, the score is level, and the entire world is watching through a screen in a living room in Osaka, a pub in Lagos, a dorm room in São Paulo. This is the match that was always going to be the one.

Reader's Guide

The current format, which came into effect with the 2025 edition, features 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation: 12 teams from Europe, 6 from South America, 4 from Africa, 4 from Asia, 4 from North, Central America and Caribbean, 1 from Oceania, and 1 team from the host nation. All non-host teams qualify through results in their confederation's top club competition. The teams are drawn into eight groups of four, with each team playing three group stage matches in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, starting with the round of 16 and culminating with the final.

Did You Know?

• The first club tournament billed as the Football World Championship was held in 1887, with FA Cup winners Aston Villa beating Scottish Cup winners Hibernian.
• The first attempt at a global club football tournament, according to FIFA, was the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909 and 1911, won both times by English amateur team West Auckland.
• The 1951 Copa Rio, won by Palmeiras, was hailed as the first ever Club World Champions by the whole Brazilian press, though it was not under FIFA's jurisdiction.
• Real Madrid won the first Intercontinental Cup in 1960, but FIFA objected to them claiming the title of world champions, stating the competition did not grant participation rights to champions from outside Europe and Sou