The FIFA Club World Cup is a competition which brings together the continental champions from different regions with the goal of crowning the best club in the world.
This year’s tournament is being held in Morocco between February 1-11 and it will feature a total of seven participants.
This competition is regularly held in December, but due to the 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup for national teams taking place in Qatar, the FIFA Club World Cup was pushed to February. It’s why it is officially referenced as the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite taking place in calendar year 2023.
The Sporting News outlines the teams that will do battle in the hope of succeeding English club Chelsea for the title of best in the world.
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Teams in 2023 FIFA Club World Cup
Seven clubs are participating in the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup: the champions of six continents, plus one berth provided to the host nation champion. The latter slot needed to be reassigned in 2023.
Since Moroccan champions Wydad Casablanca already qualified to the competition as defending African champions, their berth as host nation was transferred to the runner-up of the African tournament, Al Ahly of Egypt.
Real Madrid are the European representatives after winning the UEFA Champions League title. Los Blancos have participated in the competition five previous times, winning it on four of the five occasions. The European participant has won this competition in each of the last nine instances, with Brazilian side Corinthians the last non-European club to win, beating Chelsea 1-0 back in the 2012 final.
The Seattle Sounders are the first Major League Soccer club to ever participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, as the Mexican Liga MX had previously had a stranglehold on North America’s CONCACAF Champions League.
The Asian participant, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, was nominated by the conference as their participant because the 2022 AFC Champions League will not be completed until May of 2023 due to COVID-19 postponements. Therefore, previous champions Al Hilal were selected to participate in this year’s Club World Cup.
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| Club | Country | Region | How qualified | Participation (Titles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real Madrid | Spain | Europe | UEFA Champions League winner |
6th (4) |
| Flamengo | Brazil | S. America | Copa Libertadores winner |
2nd |
| Seattle Sounders | USA | N. America | CONCACAF Champions League winner | 1st |
| Al Hilal | Saudi Arabia | Asia | AFC Champions League winners | 3rd |
| Al Ahly | Egypt | Africa | CAF Champions League runners-up (host nation berth) |
8th |
| Wydad Casablanca | Morocco | Africa | CAF Champions League winners |
2nd |
| Auckland City | New Zealand | Oceania | OFC Champions League winners |
10th |
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2022 Club World Cup fixtures
With seven participants, the bracket features an unconventional construction.
There is a first round game that features the host nation participant against the Oceania participant. Since the host nation berth was assigned to Al Ahly of Egypt, they will face Auckland City.
The winner of the opening match is joined by the participants from North America, Africa, and Asia in the second round, while the European and South American participants entering the fray in the semifinals.
All matches take place in Central European Time (CET). This is one hour ahead of GMT in London, six hours ahead of ET in the United States and Canada, and 10 hours behind AEDT in Sydney, Australia.
First Round
| Date | Time (Local) | Fixture | TV/streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed, Feb. 1 | 20:00 CET | Al Ahly vs. Auckland City | TBD |
Second Round
| Date | Time (Local) | Fixture | TV/streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Feb. 4 | 15:30 CET | Wydad Casablanca vs. Al Hilal | TBD |
| Sat, Feb. 4 | 18:30 CET | Seattle Sounders vs. TBD (Winner 1R) | TBD |
Semifinals
| Date | Time (Local) | Fixture | TV/streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, Feb. 7 | 20:00 CET | Seattle / Al Ahly / Auckland vs. Real Madrid | TBD |
| Wed, Feb. 8 | 20:00 CET | Flamengo vs. Wydad / Al Hilal | TBD |
Third Place
| Date | Time (Local) | Fixture | TV/streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Feb. 11 | 16:30 CET | TBD (Loser SF1) vs. TBD (Loser SF2) | TBD |
Final
| Date | Time (Local) | Fixture | TV/streaming |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Feb. 11 | 20:00 CET | TBD (Winner SF1) vs. TBD (Winner SF2) | TBD |
FIFA Club World Cup expansion
On December 16, 2022 FIFA announced the launch of an expanded 32-team Club World Cup set to begin in June 2025 and held during the summer every four years, similar to the World Cup for national teams.
It’s still unclear how the 32 spots will be allocated to each region and what the qualifying criteria will be. But FIFA president Gianni Infantino did make it clear that the intention is that “they will be the best teams in the world”.
Original plans for expansion of the tournament had called for a 24-team Club World Cup to be played in 2021, but that tournament never got off the ground due to scheduling conflicts and fixture congestion resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new expanded tournament is set to replace the FIFA Confederations Cup, which in the past served as a test run for the men’s World Cup host country the year before the tournament. That could explain why the USA is reportedly a potential host for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, one year prior to the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup.
Credit: sportingnews.com