Real Madrid Win 2022 Club World Cup Ahead of Major Changes in the Competition
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The 2022 FIFA Club World Cup was played in Morocco and featured seven club teams from around the world.
Al Ahly of CAF, Auckland City of OFC, Seattle Sounders of CONCACAF, Wydad Casablanca of CAF, Al-Hilal of AFC, Real Madrid of UEFA, and Flamengo of CONMEBOL all entered the competition as winners from their region.
Real Madrid started as favourites and beat Al Ahly 4-1 in the semi-final in Rabat to book a place in the final of the competition against Al-Hilal.
Real Madrid were expecting to face Flamengo of Brazil but Al-Hilal of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation caused an upset but beating the Brazilian team 3-2 in the semi-final. However, they could not stop the might of Real Madrid in the final, with the Spanish club coming out on top 5-3 in a hugely entertaining final.
Real Madrid coasted into a 2-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes but conceded a goal in the 26th minute to make for an interesting second half. Real Madrid restored their two goal cushion by the 58th minute and despite conceding two further goals, were good value for their victory.
Real Madrid have won the FIFA Club World Cup a record five times, with all five victories coming between 2014 and 2023. Spanish clubs have dominated the competition and Barcelona are second in the rankings, with three FIFA Club World Cup titles to their name.
In fact, European clubs have dominated proceedings and of the 19 events, a European club has won on 15 times. Only Corinthians, who have won the competition twice, São Paulo who have one trophy to their name, and Internacional, with one Club World Cup title, have stopped European clubs.
Europe and South America are the only two continents to have tasted success at the FIFA Club World Cup. In fact, if we break it down to individual countries, the winners have come from Spain, Germany, Italy, England, and Brazil.
For a tournament with the word ‘world’ in the title, this seems like a small selection but underlines the dominance of European club football.
To make things more interesting, it is believed the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is going to involve 32 teams, which is a huge increase in the number of teams compared to the 2023 event. The timing of the competition will switch from being played in the European winter to the summer, with June a possibility.
The six confederations are yet to accept the proposal of the expanded tournament and may decide to vote against it with player welfare in mind. Both FIFPRO and World Leagues Forum have expressed their concern about the change in format, with La Liga also criticizing the plans.
So, it remains to be seen if the next FIFA Club World Cup will adopt the new arrangement or if it will remain in the current format. What is unlikely to change is the dominance of European clubs and we expect to see that continue for many years to come.
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