When I saw Salah winning the prize, I just laughed. FIFA is political, always does these things. A joke.
Explained: Liverpool earn gold FIFA Champions Badge I am quite certain that Real, Barcelona and Bayern all wore the badge during league matches. The CWC just can't get a break in England.
Hey, now... We might actually need their pompousness, as the Premier League is our best bet against a European Super-League coming into existence in 2024 and crushing domestic football as we know it.
Well, it does seem like the tournament was somewhat better received in England this year (of course winning helps.) But if Liverpool lose to Leicester on Boxing Day I'm sure the knives will come out in the media once again. I suppose I could do without the English fixture discussion for the final edition of this format. At the same time I am tiring of Spanish participation (unless Atletico make it). So here's hoping for German, French or Italian representation in 2020.
Props to Daily Mail, that's the point I had been making here for years. 53 games, 2.5 years. The CWC is the most important trophy in sport, harder to earn than WC. To not understand that is to be willfully ignorant for the sake of bias. man U weren't allowed to wear the badge in 08-09 either. All other champs wore it right until the second a new champ was crowned, even on the day of the Final if their game was before it.
Liverpool 'granted permission to wear gold FIFA Club World Cup winners badge for one game' by the Premier League Just one match? #FreeTheCWCBadge
LOL - isn't there a rule in the premier league that teams can't change their kits mid- season or something like that? Anyway, Al Duhail SC have just signed Mario Mandžukić from Juventus. They are odds-on favorites to win the Qatar Stars League this year, thus qualifying for CWC 2020... Al Duhail obviously have 2020 vision....
Clearly it's time to start the 2020 thread! On the menu today involving 2019 participants: Leicester - Liverpool Monterrey - Club America Let's see if Liverpool can avoid a negative result (to fend off CWC criticism) while Monterrey hopefully go down in flames.
Newly crowned world champions Liverpool returned to England and - in impressive fashion - dispatched second placed Leicester 4:0! Firmino again scored twice. Monterrey beat Club America 2:1 in the first leg of the Liguilla final and it seems Turco's approach is paying off. They still have to hold off America at the Azteca however. Even I have to admit Monterrey's winner was absolutely thrilling. In case you haven't seen it: Instead of conceding, Funes Mori inflicting pain in stoppage time here.
It CAN be explained- Rightly or wrongly I am afraid that this competition is thought of as nothing more than a pain in the a*se, it occurs at exactly the wrong (busiest) time of year for English football, if Liverpool wernt so far ahead in the league I doubt they would have sent the same team, if the governing bodies want this competition to be taken more seriously they will have to move it for a start, Perhaps also it needs to be organised differently? THE most important thing in the minds of the English Liverpool fans was that they didn't pick up too many injuries.
I don’t recall Liverpool 2005, Man Utd 2008 and Chelsea 2012 having scheduling problems due to the Club World Cup. At least, nothing different than what Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern had.
Did you see the below statistics previously shared in this thread? It does not compare England to the supposedly more motivated South Americans. No, it compares England to its European peers. Even after Liverpool's win (3 out of 11 or 27%) England's record is still by far the worst among European associations with multiple participations. How do you explain this? Does the rest of Europe value the CWC more or is the English domestic schedule that much more daunting compared to the rest of Europe? Which scenario of "English exceptionalism" are we dealing with? I stand by my earlier statement. For an association that likes to pride itself with having one of the best (if not the best) leagues in the world this record is very poor. I don't care what excuses are lined up. As for a format change, that is happening in 2021.
Look I am just trying to explain why, the fact is that rightly or wrongly this competition is not taken seriously here, perhaps in the future that will change but the fact that it falls right in the middle of the English domestic season doesnt help with the English market. If you think Im talking nonsense then perhaps you can suggest an alternative viable reason why? I would like to hear it?
Liverpool wore the CWC badge in their 1:0 win over Wolves last night. About 8,700 km West of Liverpool, Monterrey captured the Liga MX crown last night. They took Club America to penalties and once again prevailed! Can't argue with success - Turco pulled it off.
Fair enough. I don't disagree with you that the timing is challenging for European sides but that is not exclusive to England. I am genuinely interested why people think the rest of Europe has such a superior record. Not sure I have the answer myself. I do think it is partially linked to an insular sporting mentality. The kind of mentality that prevented England from participating in the World Cup until 1950. As a long-time follower of the competition I have never seen the same level of negativity (if not vitriol) directed at the CWC in Spain, Italy and Germany. In fact, Ruud Gullit (winner in 1990 with AC Milan) challenged this mindset with his English colleagues in the BeIn studios. I am paraphrasing but he basically said who in their right mind wouldn't want to be world champion? I guess it's a question English pundits will have to answer for a long, long time - especially if the CWC does become a major event in 2021.
UEFA clubs' scheduling conflicts with the FCWC. 2019 Liverpool 18 December : FCWC Semi-final ... League Cup quarterfinal away to Aston Villa is NOT moved, Liverpool field a reserve team. 21 December : FCWC Final ... Premier League fixture away to West Ham United moved to 29 January 2018 Real Madrid 19 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 22 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Villarreal moved to 3 January. 2017 Real Madrid 13 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 16 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Leganés moved to 21 February. 2016 Real Madrid 15 December : FCWC Semi-final ... Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd leg home against Cultural Leonesa brought forward to 30 November; this required 1st leg brought forward to 26 October. 18 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Valencia moved to 22 February. 2015 Barcelona 17 December : FCWC Semi-final ... Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd leg home against Villanovense brought forward to 2 December; this required 1st leg brought forward to 28 October. 20 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Sporting Gijón moved to 17 February. 2014 Real Madrid 16 December : FCWC Semi-final ... Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd leg home against Cornellà brought forward to 2 December; this required 1st leg brought forward to 28 October. 20 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match home against Sevilla moved to 4 February. 2013 Bayern Munich 17 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 21 December : FCWC Final ... Bundesliga match away to Stuttgart moved to 29 January. 2012 Chelsea 13 December : FCWC Semi-final... League Cup Quarterfinal away to Leeds United moved to 19 December. 16 December : FCWC Final... Premier League fixture home against Southampton moved to 16 January. 2011 Barcelona 14 December : FCWC Semi-final ... Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st leg away to L'Hospitalet brought forward to 9 November. 18 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match home against Rayo Vallecano brought forward to 29 November. 2010 Internazionale 15 December : FCWC Semi-final... open date domestically (no effect) 18 December : FCWC Final... Serie A match away to Fiorentina moved to 16 February. 2009 Barcelona 16 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 19 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Xerez brought forward to 2 December. 2008 Manchester United 18 December : FCWC Semi-final... open date domestically (no effect) 21 December : FCWC Final... Premier League fixture home against Wigan Athletic moved to 19 January. 2007 Milan 13 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 16 December : FCWC Final ... Serie A match home against Livorno moved to 13 February. 2006 Barcelona 14 December : FCWC Semi-final ... open date domestically (no effect) 17 December : FCWC Final ... La Liga match away to Betis moved to 24 January. 2005 Liverpool 15 December : FCWC Semi-final... open date domestically (no effect) 18 December : FCWC Final... Premier League fixture away to Sunderland brought forward to 30 November.
To be fair, the 2 CWC games were must win (counting advancing after regulation as winning), whereas the 38 PL and 13 CL games were not. Liverpool were fourth in the 2017-2018 PL and 5 points ahead of Chelsea, so they didn't have a lot of room for error to qualify for the 2018-2019 CL, but given Liverpool's goal differential was 22 better than Chelsea's, Liverpool could have changed 2 wins to a draw and a loss and still qualified for the CL. They needed to win the goals scored tiebreaker over Napoli to finish second in their CL group, so they didn't have much margin for error there either. In the three knockout rounds that are two legs, clubs can advance with one win or two draws. If you look at 2018 CWC winner Real Madrid, they finished 11 points above third in their CL group and 26 points above fifth in 2016-2017 La Liga. It's the same for the main WC where the winner needed to win (counting advancing after regulation as winning) four knockout games, but not every Group Stage game, and may or may not have qualified with room to spare.
But the main point is that every team knows what is required to do for them to advance to the next round/next tournament. Those that don’t fulfill those requirements are left in the dust. And in the end, only one team survives. I still would rather have the old European Cup format. where you had to win the league just to qualify for a chance to become European champion. I wish every club continental tournament did this as it would merit the Club World Cup tournament all the more. Unfortunately, futbol is all about bringing in as much money as possible at the expense to fairness/merit.