Quirky era of soccer’s Club World Cup will be sorely missed

The FIFA Club World Cup should be bigger than it is. Bigger in scope; bigger in popularity.

That the two go hand in hand is obvious. To paraphrase Wayne’s World, build it larger and more people will come. And that’s precisely what will happen, beginning in 2025 when 32 teams contest the first of what is likely to be a quadrennial, international World Cup-style competition.

Which is great, although it means the 2023 Club World Cup, which kicks off Tuesday in Saudi Arabia (all matches streaming free on FIFA+), is already redundant.

Five of the seven squads competing in Jeddah have already qualified for the 2025 event by virtue of qualifying for this one. Needless to say, the current format will be retired after the final is played on Dec. 22. It won’t be especially missed.

That is, it won’t be mourned in Europe, where it barely registered in the first place.

The rest of the world, however, has tended to value it, often sending their teams off to Japan, Morocco or whichever host nation, with enthusiasm. The South Americans, in particular, have relished the chance to put their winners of the Copa Libertadores up against the holders of the Champions League.

That only four of the last eight Club World Cups have delivered a Europe vs. South America final is indicative of the event’s features and flaws.

Yes, the champions of Asia and Africa have largely caught up with their South American counterparts, and in 2014 Oceania’s Auckland City upset the whole thing by reaching the semifinals and beating Mexican giants Cruz Azul to finish third. It was the sort of memorable quirk that’s unlikely to happen in 2025 and beyond.

That four-of-eight doesn’t take into account that on each occasion, and in every Club World Cup since it became annual in 2005, Europe has always been represented in the final. Sao Paulo’s Corinthians were the last non-European side to lift the trophy, and that was more than a decade ago. The schedule now begins with its outcome guaranteed. Europe has left the rest of the world in the dust.

Fair play to them. Theirs are also the teams most fans want to see, and the new format will ensure they get to see 12 — the four previous Champions League winners (Manchester City, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and the next ones) and eight others according to their continental rank.

With the broadened field — a good thing, make no mistake — there are some terrific things about the old Club World Cup that will never be seen again.

Auckland City, for example, have rather made a home for themselves in the tournament.

When they open the 2023 version against host team Al-Ittihad (Tuesday), they’ll have extended their record participation to 11 instalments. Former manager Ramon Tribulietx was involved in seven — his first all the way back when Neymar was still at Santos; his last when Real Madrid’s latest juggernaut was at its height.

The entire history of the Club World Cup can almost be written alongside that of the New Zealanders. And every time they’ve started it, they’ve been just two wins away from a semifinal. A quirk? Yes, but a neat one.

Egypt’s Al Ahly have played in the next-most Club World Cups, the current one being their ninth. Incidentally, they’ll face the winner of Al-Ittihad-Auckland City in one of the quarter-finals (Friday).

Nadi El Qarn, or Club of the Century, made their competition debut in 2005 when, also incidentally, they lost their quarter-final to Al-Ittihad. A week later, Sao Paulo beat Liverpool in the final, and Peter Crouch finished joint-top goal-scorer. Crouch: the quirk of all quirks.

This year’s other quarterfinal includes Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds, who gave everything the AC Milan of Nesta, Maldini, Seedorf and Kaka could handle when they debuted in 2007. Reigning Asian champions, the Reds came a disappointing fourth in the just-completed J1 League season, although in 2022 they finished ninth.

It’s the sort of group that doesn’t have much business being in a major tournament, which makes it somehow satisfying that they are. North American champions Leon should make quick work of them, but then there might be a hero-in-waiting in 37-year-old goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa, who’s played his entire professional career in Japan.

Leon, for their part, are one of three clubs for which the last Club World Cup in its current guise will be their first. They also happen to be a quirk wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma.

La Fiera, The Wild Beast, have won just three Mexican championships in 30 years but have recently become something of a cup side. In addition to beating Los Angeles FC to win the CONCACAF Champions Cup in June, they also triumphed in the 2021 Leagues Cup, overcoming Seattle Sounders in the final. In other words, there’s a giant-killer here.

Either Leon or Urawa Red Diamonds will face Manchester City in one semi-final (Dec. 19) with Al Ahly, Al-Ittihad or Auckland City taking on Fluminense in the other (Dec. 18). On Dec. 22 (12 p.m.), Europe and South America will expect to clash in the Jeddah showpiece.

Like Leon, City and Fluminense are competition debutantes. Both have also been playing some woeful football of late.

Following Wednesday’s loss to Aston Villa, 2022-23 treble-winners City sit fourth in the Premier League and are winless in four – their most recent victory coming over Bournemouth in early November. Quite astonishingly, they’ve kept only two clean sheets since August.

Fluminense, meanwhile, recently wrapped up a Serie A campaign in which they finished seventh. Long in the shadow of fellow Rio de Janeiro club and Maracana co-tenants Flamengo, they haven’t won a league title since 2012 and in the subsequent decade have placed in the top half on just four occasions.

They might also be among the quirkiest teams to ever contest this event.

Playmaker Ganso, now 34, was once hailed as Brazil’s next great number-10, and 35-year-old journeyman striker German Cano — once of Leon, as it happens — came out of nowhere to lead the Copa Libertadores in scoring. To top it all off, and in uniquely Brazilian fashion, young striker John Kennedy scored the goal that sent Fluminense to Saudi Arabia.

In other words, the two tournament favourites are vulnerable, perhaps as much as they’ve ever been. And it all sets up a quite fascinating scenario.

Might this end-of-an-era Club World Cup produce a shock or two? Even three? It would be quite the send-off.

From here, the competition will indeed become bigger and scope and, presumably, in popularity as well. It will be good for the sport. But it also marks the end of a diminutive, hipsterish interest enjoyed in an almost secretive exclusivity before the inevitable selling out.

And in that, it will be much missed.

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