2018 FIFA Club World Cup: Tournament News & Qualifiers [R]

Who will make it to the UAE?



UEFA: Round-of-16
CONMEBOL: Not Started
CONCACAF: Not Started
AFC: Not Started
CAF: Not Started
OFC: Not Started
Host: Matchday 11

The UEFA Champions League is now the only continental competition not completed in the same calendar year.

 

Tournament Winners & Statistics:

Intercontinental Cup

1960 Real Madrid (ESP)
1961 Peñarol (URU)
1962 Santos (BRA)
1963 Santos (BRA)
1964 Inter Milan (ITA)
1965 Inter Milan (ITA)
1966 Peñarol (URU)
1967 Racing Club (ARG)
1968 Estudiantes (ARG)
1969 AC Milan (ITA)
1970 Feyenoord (NED)
1971 Nacional (URU)
1972 Ajax Amsterdam (NED)
1973 Independiente (ARG)
1974 Atlético Madrid (ESP)
1975 No competition
1976 Bayern Munich (GER)
1977 Boca Juniors (ARG)
1978 No competition
1979 Olimpia (PAR)

Toyota Cup

1980 Nacional (URU)
1981 Flamengo (BRA)
1982 Peñarol (URU)
1983 Grêmio (BRA)
1984 Independiente (ARG)
1985 Juventus (ITA)
1986 River Plate (ARG)
1987 FC Porto (POR)
1988 Nacional (URU)
1989 AC Milan (ITA)
1990 AC Milan (ITA)
1991 Red Star Belgrade (SER)
1992 São Paulo (BRA)
1993 São Paulo (BRA)
1994 Vélez Sarsfield (ARG)
1995 Ajax Amsterdam (NED)
1996 Juventus (ITA)
1997 Borussia Dortmund (GER)
1998 Real Madrid (ESP)
1999 Manchester United (ENG)
2000 Boca Juniors (ARG)
2001 Bayern Munich (GER)
2002 Real Madrid (ESP)
2003 Boca Juniors (ARG)
2004 FC Porto (POR)
[Merger with Club World Cup*]

Club World Cup

2000 Corinthians (BRA)
2001 No competition
2002 No competition
2003 No competition
2004 No competition
[Merger with Toyota Cup*]
2005 São Paulo (BRA)
2006 Internacional (BRA)
2007 AC Milan (ITA)
2008 Manchester United (ENG)
2009 FC Barcelona (ESP)
2010 Inter Milan (ITA)
2011 FC Barcelona (ESP)
2012 Corinthians (BRA)
2013 Bayern Munich (GER)
2014 Real Madrid (ESP)
2015 FC Barcelona (ESP)
2016 Real Madrid (ESP)

Clubs with Multiple Titles

6 - Real Madrid (ESP)
4 - AC Milan (ITA)
3 - Bayern Munich (GER)
3 - Boca Juniors (ARG)
3 - FC Barcelona (ESP)
3 - Inter Milan (ITA)
3 - Nacional (URU)
3 - Peñarol (URU)
3 - São Paulo (BRA)
2 - Ajax Amsterdam (NED)
2 - Corinthians (BRA)
2 - FC Porto (POR)
2 - Independiente (ARG)
2 - Juventus (ITA)
2 - Manchester United (ENG)
2 - Santos (BRA)

Titles by Association

10 - Brazil
10 - Spain
9 - Argentina
9 - Italy
6 - Uruguay
4 - Germany
3 - Netherlands
2 - England
2 - Portugal
1 - Paraguay
1 - Serbia

Titles by Confederation

31 - UEFA
26 - CONMEBOL

Note: FIFA has recognized all winners of the Intercontinental/Toyota Cup, played between 1960 and 2004, as club world champions.

 

"Emerging Confederations" Top Three Placements:

AFC (Total 6)
2nd: 2016
3rd: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015

CONCACAF (Total 4)
3rd: 2000, 2005, 2012, 2017

CAF (Total 3)
2nd: 2010, 2013
3rd: 2006

OFC (Total 1)
3rd: 2014

 

A few confederation stats...

UEFA

1. Spain (17 Titles)
2. England; Italy (12 Titles)
3. Germany (7 Titles)

Record Champion: Real Madrid, Spain (12 Titles - Last in 2017)

CONMEBOL

1. Argentina (24 Titles)
2. Brazil (18 Titles)
3. Uruguay (8 Titles)

Record Champion: CA Independiente, Argentina (7 Titles - Last in 1984)

CONCACAF

1. Mexico (33 Titles)
2. Costa Rica (6 Titles)
3. El Salvador (3 Titles)

Record Champion: Club America, Mexico (7 Titles - Last in 2016)

AFC

1. South Korea (11 Titles)
2. Japan (6 Titles)
3. Saudi Arabia (4 Titles)

Record Champion: Pohang Steelers, South Korea (3 Titles - Last in 2009)

CAF

1. Egypt (14 Titles)
2. DR Congo; Morocco (6 Titles)
3. Algeria; Cameroon (5 Titles)

Record Champion: Al Ahly, Egypt (8 Titles - Last in 2013)

OFC

1. New Zealand (11 Titles)
2. Australia* (4 Titles)
3. Papua New Guinea (1 Title)

Record Champion: Auckland City, New Zealand (9 Titles - Last in 2017)

*Australia is no longer an OFC member.

 

Longest consecutive winning streak in each confederation's premier club competition:

CONCACAF:
12 – Mexico (ongoing)

OFC:
7 – New Zealand (ongoing)

UEFA:
6 – England (end of streak 1982)

CONMEBOL:
4 – Argentina (end of streak 1970 and 1975); Brazil (end of streak 2013)

AFC:
3 – South Korea (end of streak 1998)

CAF:
3 – Cameroon (end of streak 1980)


Longest consecutive winning streak at the club level:

7 – Auckland City, OFC (ongoing)
5 – Real Madrid, UEFA (end of streak 1960)
4 – Independiente, CONMEBOL (end of streak 1975)
3 – CF Monterrey, CONCACAF (end of streak 2013)
3 – Cruz Azul, CONCACAF (end of streak 1971)

No clubs in Africa or Asia have won more than two in a row.

 

The AFC has once again boosted its prize money. The winner now gets USD 4M excluding travel subsidy. CAF also increased its prize money last season to USD 2.5M for the winner. Not bad, especially once you add in the CWC prize money on top of it.

@Paul Calixte - is CONCACAF still giving a generous 500K?

 

As of 2017 it was still USD 500K for the winner.

 

This will only be the case for one year. Starting with the next edition CAF will commence an alignment with the UEFA calendar. The CAF Champions League will conclude in May. I suppose this fits with the African Nations Cup move to summer.

In the AFC the group stage kicked off this week. There was an interesting storyline in qualifying that deserves mention. The one of Filipino club Ceres-Negros. They stunned Australian side Brisbane Roar 3-2 away and then realized they barely had any time left to apply for their Chinese visas for the next round. They ultimately managed to get them and arrived in China with very little rest. They lost to high-spending Tianjin Quanjian by a respectable scoreline of 2:0. Maybe next time Ceres-Negros will expect to win and tackle admin tasks well in advance.

Talk about a bad start for the A-League however after a miserable performance last year. Once you start losing to Filipino clubs you know you're in trouble.

 

The group stage has also kicked off in the OFC. Before I forget, UAE and Saudi Clubs are playing Qatari opponents "normally" without neutral venues. The AFC put their foot down on this issue. Neutral venues however will continue for Saudi-Iran matches.

CONCACAF are about to commence their new format next week. MLSsoccer.com already have their annual "the gap is closing" piece up. You know, the one always written before the CCL is played.

Will this year be different?

 

The CONCACAF quarterfinals are set:

Seattle Sounders (USA) - Chivas (Mexico)
Tijuana (Mexico) - New York Red Bulls (USA)
Toronto (Canada) - Tigres UANL (Mexico)
Club America (Mexico) - Tauro (Panama)

In the R16 the Honduran clubs had to play their home matches outside the country due to the political unrest. The upset of the round was Tauro FC eliminating 2017 semi-finalists FC Dallas on away goals:



Toronto are heralded as the best MLS team ever so a lot of eyes will be on their meeting with Mexican power Tigres.

 

CONCACAF CL, First Legs:

Seattle Sounders (USA) - Chivas (Mexico) 1:0
Tijuana (Mexico) - New York Red Bulls (USA) 0:2
Toronto (Canada) - Tigres UANL (Mexico) 2:1
Club America (Mexico) - Tauro (Panama) 4:0

In a surprising turn of events the MLS teams have thrown down the gauntlet towards the Mexican clubs. Three wins in three games. Let's see how next week goes. Seattle had 42,885 at the stadium - that must be a CCL record in the USA.



In the OFC the draw has been made for the quarterfinals. The two Kiwi clubs are likely to meet in the semis, meaning the final takes place early.

 

Indeed:

Two MLS teams eliminated Mexican teams in CONCACAF play last night. That had happened only three times in 30 previous meetings.

Quite a night for @MLS. pic.twitter.com/4Mf77oRqk2

— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) March 14, 2018

Toronto was a bit fortunate in Monterrey but the NY Red Bulls put up an impressive aggregate score against Xolos. It's rather surprising that with all the investment in recent years Tigres still don't have an international title to their name. Be it CCL or Copa Libertadores. Let's see what happens with Chivas and Seattle.



I attended Al Wasl (UAE) - Persepolis (Iran) last night. Quite a heated affair at times but Al Wasl ended up losing the fourth straight game in the group stage. Very disappointing ACL showing. Hong Kong's Kitchee managed to beat Kashiwa Reysol today:

 

Chivas restored some sense of "normality" in CONCACAF:



The semis are:

Chivas (Mexico) - New York Red Bulls (USA)
Toronto (Canada) - Club America (Mexico)

Things remain interesting.

In UEFA the final eight are set. Draw tomorrow:

Liverpool (England)
Manchester City (England)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Juventus (Italy)
AS Roma (Italy)
Barcelona (Spain)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Sevilla (Spain)

Victims in the R16 include PSG, ManU and Chelsea.