future of fifa club world cup?

[Benin Dahomey]

this tournament doesn't appear to be too popular, but i think it is fair to say that it is going to be around for a while in some guise. fifa wants it and thats that.

so what i was wondering was what form people would like to see the tournament take.

i think the following are reasonable options but feel free to post any other suggestions.

1. KEEP IT THE WAY IT IS

2. WORLD CUP TYPE FORMAT

i.e. hold it every four years (maybe the year before world cup) and have the 32 best clubs at it. this would be determined by clubs perfomance in their own confederations tournaments, (uefa cl, etc) I might be wrong but i think blatter has hinted that he wants something like this eventually.

3.EXPANSION OF EXISTING TOURNAMENTS

this would work through the uefa cl, etc. basically, instead of the group qualifiers going into the last 16, they would go into a last 32 with the other teams coming from the other confederations by a similar process. Europe would have 16 teams, combine the america's and give them 10 teams and 3 a piece from asia and africa. (Exact no. of teams per confederation can be flexible and take into account results in tournament. a sort of co-efficient).

4.ABANDON CWC COMPLETELY
i include this for people who hate this tournament, no matter what guise it takes.

[SwissGCZ]

It is fine the way it is. Keep it short and annual...

[Templinho]

Expansion of existing competitions is a novel idea, but logistically unfeasible. A World Cup format is appealing, but unrealistic without dramatic changes to the football calender. It's taken so many years for a format to finally be agreed upon, so I see no reason to change it now.

Besides, I think the current format is ideal. Continental competitions will remain the focus throughout the calender year, with the six prevailing clubs converging each December to battle it out for global supremacy. Simple and effective.

[HiJazzey]

Expansion of existing competitions is a novel idea, but logistically unfeasible. A World Cup format is appealing, but unrealistic without dramatic changes to the football calender. It's taken so many years for a format to finally be agreed upon, so I see no reason to change it now.

Besides, I think the current format is ideal. Continental competitions will remain the focus throughout the calender year, with the six prevailing clubs converging each December to battle it out for global supremacy. Simple and effective.
Exactly

[Jake1983]

Give it a couple of years. The problem is the UEFA club usually does not want to be there

[Benin Dahomey]

wow. i'm surprised so many people like the cup the way it is. i was under thye impression it was really unpopular. oh well...learn something new every day.

having said that, i don't know if keeping it the way it is is actually an option for fifa. they have said they want this tournament to rival the world cup for prestige, and reading between the lines that sounds to me like changing and expanding it. prestige wise, this tournament is no better than the super cup and i don't think fifa will settle for that.

my preference is actually for the expansion of the champions league. that way european teams only need to play one more tie, home and away, and so would not upset their calander too much. if this does not fit in with the calander of other confederations, they could simply decide on which teams they are entering in advance.

[Templinho]

i don't know if keeping it the way it is is actually an option for fifa. they have said they want this tournament to rival the world cup for prestige, and reading between the lines that sounds to me like changing and expanding it.We all know that FIFA would like a competition to rival the UEFA Champions League, but that just isn't going to happen in the current climate of fixture congestion.

prestige wise, this tournament is no better than the super cupI disagree. Super Cups prove nothing and merely act as a curtain raiser to the forthcoming continental season. This tournament pits clubs against eachother that would never otherwise meet in a competative environment and serves as an indicator as to which continent is truly dominant.

One major concern about the future of this tournament is the matter of Oceania. With the departure of Australia, their future representatives could be decidely weak. Personally, I like SwissGCZ's idea of OFC and CONCACAF merging with AFC and CONMEBOL respectively, thus having the big four fight it out each December.

[MoRado]

Once a year is fine, but I'll add 2 teams to complete 8 so we'll see nice and fair brakets, I'll add either the former champion and subchampion of the last year, or the second best team of europe and southamerica

[Eliezar]

Once a year is fine, but I'll add 2 teams to complete 8 so we'll see nice and fair brakets, I'll add either the former champion and subchampion of the last year, or the second best team of europe and southamerica

UEFA teams don't want to play more than 2 games. This is basically the best we will get until there is more prestige here than in the Champion's League.

Honestly if a certain Russian Roman had decided to buy say Gremio and spend all his money in the Brazilian league it would actually have been good for the football world. Can you imagine if 3 or 4 very rich owners bought teams in Brazil and Argentina and started buying and keeping the good South American players?

[CL_2004]

future of the competition looks bright. the tournament is perfect the way it is now.

[AlbertCamus]

Now that the whole world is involved, this competition is going to gain prestige quickly. Remember the European teams are obsessed with growing their brands, so they are getting more interested in this. It will also be good when this tournament starts changing locations (in 2008); getting it to a different time zone will be nice.

I say keep it the way it is, FIFA finally got it right.

[JLSA]

wow. i'm surprised so many people like the cup the way it is. i was under thye impression it was really unpopular. oh well...learn something new every day.

As far as many are concerned - it's the worst possible format ... apart from all the others.

J

/sorry Winston

[Bertje]

Get rid of it. Players have to play way too many matches already. I see get rid of some of these useless tournaments so we can play with smaller selections again. This would also cut down on the amount of great players being wasted on the bench at clubs like Milan and Chelsea.

[SwissGCZ]

I say get rid of some of these useless tournaments...
I agree, but this isn't one of them. Instead scrap all the League Cups (one cup competition is enough) and Super Cups.

[la fresa]

yeah, league cups are pointless.

also, cut down on the amount of teams in the champions league and copa libertadores. i like how afc runs things better, with just two teams from each country being represented in the continental championship. i dont see the point of having the 4th best team in england, spain, or italy. even the third and second place team to a certain extent. whats the point if they're not champions? seeing teams like everton, villareal, and lille in the CL is ridiculous, they dont deserve to be there.

sadly, its all about the money.

[AlbertCamus]

Get rid of it. Players have to play way too many matches already. I see get rid of some of these useless tournaments so we can play with smaller selections again. This would also cut down on the amount of great players being wasted on the bench at clubs like Milan and Chelsea.

If UEFA had put Liverpool straight into the group stages to defend their title they would have played a hell of a lot less matches then they are playing. This is only two matches, they could played the league games they are missing in August when Man U and Everton were playing qualifiers. The travel is signifcant, but who is to say they would not have toured the Far East last summer if they could have.

Having said that, this tournament should not expand to 8 teams, that is too many, but it could contract to 4 teams when Oceana looses Australia. One extra advantage of keeping this small is future host cities can keep it to one stadium.

[la fresa]

6 - 1 = 5

:p

[Bertje]

Well if I was in charge this is what I would do. Bring the EC 1, 2and 3 back. So that means only champions in the EC 1! Leagues with 16 teams. And no more pointless tournaments like the Confederation's Cup, Toyota Cup and all that crap. Keep it simple: the league, the league cup and European football. The occasional game for the country you represent and that's it. That means players don't have to play as many games, which means less injuries, which means smaller squads needed which means more great players actually get to play.

Also make a rule that you can only have three foreigners in your team and that means no things like in Spain where most player have double passports.
This means clubs will be forced to work with youth more, your own country's youth, so clubs keep their own style of playing which makes for a more specific type of playing and thus not every game will be the same. Also this will make sure countries will have more good players to choose from and thus international games will be of a higher level.

[rjxsapri]

^But that will give us waaaay less football to watch...:P. The more tournaments and stuff I can see any time of the year, the happier I am...besides, the Confederations Cup is already a nice tournament to see already, and the new Club Championship will be really short...I see no reason to get rid of them.

[Germanshepherd]

Well if I was in charge this is what I would do. Bring the EC 1, 2and 3 back. So that means only champions in the EC 1! Leagues with 16 teams. And no more pointless tournaments like the Confederation's Cup, Toyota Cup and all that crap. Keep it simple: the league, the league cup and European football. The occasional game for the country you represent and that's it. That means players don't have to play as many games, which means less injuries, which means smaller squads needed which means more great players actually get to play.

Also make a rule that you can only have three foreigners in your team and that means no things like in Spain where most player have double passports.
This means clubs will be forced to work with youth more, your own country's youth, so clubs keep their own style of playing which makes for a more specific type of playing and thus not every game will be the same. Also this will make sure countries will have more good players to choose from and thus international games will be of a higher level.

Completely agree. What is the point of so many games anyway? Half of them doesnt mean anything and when the season comes to an end I am not even really interested who is winning this so called "Champions league". Not mentioning the Uefa Cup which is totally ruined now.