Imagining a Proper 32 Team Club World Cup

The Club World Cup is about to get interesting. I Promise. The two semi-finals happen over the next two days, with Estudiantes vs Pohang Steelers on Tuesday December 15th and Barcelona vs Atlante on Wednesday the 16th. But as Gabriele Marcotti quite rightly points out in this Times article, the tournament struggles to hold our interest. Mostly because it’s somewhat predictable (a six team competition with only two potential winners, either European or South American champion) and the location (so far: Asia and the Middle East) makes kickoff times unfriendly for European viewers.

Marcotti suggests a couple of simple solutions: 1. Add one extra European and one extra South American team = an 8 team tournament with 4 potential winners, and 2. Change the location. Hard to disagree, as both moves would definitely improve the tournament’s profile. But these are small, sensible steps. It’s much mjuch more fun to let your imagination run wild.

In an ideal world, we’d have a Club World Cup that works in the same way as the actual World Cup. A full compliment of 32 club teams from around the world playing in a month long tournament over the summer.

Stop and imagine that for a second.

One host nation. All the big European and South American teams mixed in with MLS and Mexican teams, and the best of Asia and Africa. Eight groups of four, then knockouts, just like the current World Cup setup.

Group D runners up Boca Juniors vs Group C winners Barcelona in the round of 16? Man Utd vs Real Madrid going at each in a quarter-final? None of this two-legged silliness. You’d watch that, right? I certainly would. The TV money alone would be enough to make Sepp Blatter drool, not to mention the usual fast food, fizzy drink and alcoholic beverage people who’d pay handsomely to be involved.

Obviously a proper Club World Cup will almost certainly never happen. Summers are reserved for proper international football (Euros, Copa America, World Cup) and even the most committed players can’t be expected to play year-round, every year, with no chance of rest ever.

So how about this instead: We just accept the Club World Cup pretty much as it is. A flawed tournament that happens every December, and pits the champions of each confederation against each other. Yes, it could use some tweaking. But it’s still pretty interesting as is, and I plan to watch the semi-finals with interest.

Pohang Steelers vs Estudiantes
Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi,
Tuesday 15th December, 2009
8pm kickoff (local time), 4pm UK time, 11am, US eastern time.

Atlante vs Barcelona
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Wednesday, 16th December, 2009
8pm kickoff (local time), 4pm UK time, 11am, US eastern time.

Some Related Stories:

Category: Club World Cup