Why Has It Been Difficult To Arrange A World Cup Of Clubs?
The goals of every football club and every fan wearing their team’s kit will vary. In some cases, simply avoiding relegation is cause for success, whilst others want to prove that their team is the best in the world.
What is unusual about club football compared to the national game, and indeed any other national sport, is that there has not been a universally recognised championship that proves which team is the best in the world.
It is only in 2025 that the FIFA Club World Cup has attempted to determine the best club in the world, following nearly a century of attempts, challenges and calamities along the way.
There were several early attempts more limited in scope, including the England-Scotland Football World Championship in 1887, the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909, the Copa Rio in the 1950s and the Intercontinental Cup up until 2004.
However, they were either too limited in scope or were treated as international friendly matches, and this would only start to change with the inauguration of what was initially known as the Club World Championship in 2000.
In the UK, the original CWC was arguably doomed from the start, as the reigning UEFA Champions League winners Manchester United withdrew from the FA Cup, meaning that they could not defend their historic Treble and causing a national scandal in the process.
A historic loss to Brazilian side Vasco da Gama did not help matters in any way, and the faltering credibility of the championship was tarnished by the cancellation of its second edition in 2001
This cancellation, primarily the result of the scandalous collapse of FIFA’s marketing partner ISL, meant that the Club World Cup would see regular rescheduling, format changes and difficulties with attracting universal interest.
The expansion of the format from seven teams to 32 in 2025 may change this over time, but the controversies surrounding the tournament and issues selling tickets may mean that the dream of a universally recognised world champion football club may still be some distance away.