A Little Bit About the Club World Cup

By: Laurie | December 16th, 2007

So when was the last time an entire team was arrested after a match for their behavior on the pitch?

I’m not sure, but I think it may have been in 1969, after an Intercontinental Cup (precursor to the Club World Cup) game, with the Argentinian team Estudiantes de la Plata.

“Following a very violent Intercontinental match against Milan, the entire team was arrested on orders from Argentine President Juan Carlos Onganía; in an unprecedented step, goalkeeper Poletti was suspended for life (he was later pardoned), and hatchet-man Aguirre Suárez was also singled out for punishment. Because of several such events, it became a cliché to refer to Zubeldía’s football as el antifútbol.”

Thankfully, things have calmed down a bit since then. (And yes, I did just cite Wikipedia. Their recap was the most succinct. But I’ve read the same thing elsewhere, plus we all know Wikipedia is never wrong. So trust me here.)

Today was the final of the Club World Cup between the CONMEBOL champions Boca Juniors and the European Champions AC Milan. Milan won, 4-2. (For recap links, scroll down.)

And I know a lot of people are thinking, “The Club what what?” Because this is the most famous competition a lot of fans have never heard of. One of the reasons for this is that it is not in its original incarnation. It used to be the Intercontinental Cup, played between the South American and European champions. It made sense to consider this a de facto club world championship, since those were the two places soccer really thrived.

Then the competition fell apart, and soccer started growing in other areas of the world. The tournament was kind of revived in 2000, then went dormant for a few years, then came back in something close to its current state in 2005.

Except that as of today, FIFA says it was in its current state in 2000. And that’s final.

TOKYO, December 16: Football’s governing body FIFA has decided to re-designate a one-off club world championship held in 2000 as the first edition of the Club World Cup.

“The (FIFA) executive committee today took the decision and that’s final,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Saturday on the action to rewrite the Club World Cup’s history.

So the competition is in its eighth year, even though there have been only four tournaments played. Make sense? No? Well, you’re obviously not Sepp Blatter.

For more interesting thoughts on this year’s cup, check out the following great reads:

USSoccerPlayers.com has an excellent description of the competition, including a lot of the history, plus all of the convoluted details about how and why the early games were played.

Final Recap: Italy Offside
Final Live blog: Milan Offside
Recap of the game for third place between Etoile de Sahel and Urawa from an Etoile fan: Tunisia World Cup Blog