FIFA Club World Cup: Japan 2016 [R]

Say what you will about the CWC or its format, those were two great games today.

 

Final Standings

1. Real Madrid (UEFA)
2. Kashima Antlers (AFC, Host)
3. Atletico Nacional (CONMEBOL)
4. Club America (CONCACAF)
5. Jeonbuk Motors (AFC)
6. Mamelodi Sundowns (CAF)
7. Auckland City (OFC)

Coming back to attendance, this was by far the lowest attended CWC in Japan:

2005 - 37,351
2006 - 43,163
2007 - 45,553
2008 - 44,439
2011 - 38,167
2012 - 35,383
2015 - 34,039
2016 - 29,804

(Average Attendance)

I am willing to bet 2019 will be in China. Alibaba will make it happen.

 

China could shake things up, but not at the very top of the European elite where talent and wealth is only more likely to concentrate going forward. Certainly not in the 10-15 year window that I am looking at. At least not in my opinion. Top teams in other confederations however may want to pay close attention to what is happening in the Chinese Super League. Especially if more roster spots open up for foreigners.

I find that highly unlikely. I expect CONMEBOL to be busy fighting off the rest rather than giant slaying. Look, I enjoyed today's final as much as the next guy but it is the exception rather than the rule. In the last decade how many finals were truly competitive excluding Corinthians' victory? 2009 and this year. Maybe the rest can wrestle away 2 out of 10 (with South American hosting?) in the next decade but that is it.

 

I'm probably responding to a sock but here we go...

May I suggest you enter "Real Madrid+Pentacampeon" into google because it seems a rather large number of media outlets didn't get your memo of "absolutely different competitions".

Example:


Yes, FIFA stop short of fully recognizing past Intercontinental Cup winners as official "FIFA champions" (something they did for the King Fahd Cup in Confederations Cup history) but everyone knows that it was the de facto world championship. The clubs, the players, the fans and the media that has covered this competition for a while.

The Intercontinental Cup even features prominently in FIFA's own coverage of the the Club World Cup. Have a look at this year's statistical kit. There is an entire section dedicated to the Intercontinental Cup with a list of winners.

Yes, two merged tournaments are "absolutely different competitions" - gotcha.

 

Errr....no. UAE football doesn't need that humiliation again.

A quick fix would be to put the host spot back on the European side of the bracket. That creates a semifinal "ceiling" for the hosts.

 

According to this Atletico Nacional brought about 5,000 fans to Japan:

While not nearly as many as Corinthians or River Plate that is still a very respectable figure.

 

Looking ahead to UAE 2017, the host venues have been announced. Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain (22,700) and Zayed Sports City (43,000) in Abu Dhabi. Both cities are in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Pretty sure they initially said Zayed Sports City wasn't going to host (due to renovations for the 2019 Asian Cup) but I guess that has changed? Or did someone confuse the two major Abu Dhabi grounds - the other being the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium? As I predicted previously Al Ain got the nod and it's the first time a stadium with under 40K capacity gets to host the CWC. And that's just fine - the first three games won't draw more than that.

Not to mention it's a real gem: