Champions League winners Manchester City need to win two games to be able to call themselves Club World Champions. The tournament tree has been set since Tuesday
There will be two rounds at this year’s Club World Cup, which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, before Champions League winners Manchester City have to intervene. The Skyblues will not enter the tournament, which features seven teams, until the semi-finals.
The Champions League winners from each continent qualify. Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) are from Asia, Al-Ahly Cairo (Egypt) from Africa, Club Leon (Mexico) from CONCACAF, Auckland City (New Zealand) from Oceania, Manchester City (England) from Europe and Al-Ittihad from the Saudi Pro League, i.e. the defending champions of the league of the organising association. Among others, Karim Benzema and N’golo Kanté are under contract with Al-Ittihad.
The Copa America winner has yet to be determined
One participant in the tournament, which will be played between 12 and 22 December this year, has not yet been determined: it is the winner of the South American Copa Libertadores, which usually features the second most prominent participant. There, the semi-finals will first be played at the end of September between Boca Juniors (Buenos Aires) and Palmeiras from Sao Paulo as well as between Fluminense from Rio de Janeiro and Internacional from Porto Alegre. The final will be played on 11 November.
The earliest City could meet the representative from South America would be in the Club World Cup final. In the first round, in which there is only one match, “host” Al-Ittihad will take on Auckland before the winner has to face Al-Ahly in the second round. The other second-round match, the winner of which will face Pep Guardiola’s side in the semi-finals, has already been decided: Club Leon versus Urawa Red Diamonds. The second semi-final will be contested by the winner of the Copa Libertadores against the winner of the Al-Ahly versus the first-round winner pairing.
From 2025, the Club World Cup will feature 32 teams and will be held every four years. The current defending champions are Real Madrid; the last non-UEFA title holder was Corinthians of Sao Paulo, Brazil, by beating Chelsea FC in the 2012 final.
