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FIFA Intercontinental Cup
Association football tournament for clubs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The FIFA Intercontinental Cup is an annual football competition organised by FIFA, the global governing body for the sport. First held in 2024, the tournament features the reigning club champions of each of the six FIFA confederations, contested in a knockout format in which the representative from Europe receives a bye to the final.[1]
The tournament concept is closely modelled on the earlier version of the FIFA Club World Cup, which underwent major expansion and restructuring starting with the 2025 edition. Although the Intercontinental Cup confers the honorary title of annual "world champions", it is secondary in prestige and significance to the expanded Club World Cup.[2][3][4] Real Madrid are the current holders, having defeated Pachuca 3–0 in the inaugural final held in 2024.[5]
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History
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On 16 December 2022, the FIFA Council approved the expansion of the FIFA Club World Cup from seven to thirty-two teams beginning in 2025.[6] The 2023 tournament was therefore the last played under the previous format. However, FIFA reported that confederations expressed the need for the champions of their top club competitions to still play each other annually to "stimulate competitiveness".[7] Therefore, on 14 March 2023, the FIFA Council approved a concept for an annual club competition beginning in 2024, later named as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. FIFA considers this tournament to be a direct continuation of the FIFA Club World Cup, held from 2000 to 2023.[8]
The similarly named Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004) was a club competition organised by UEFA and CONMEBOL which was usually contested by the champions of the two respective confederations. However, the new FIFA-organised competition features the champions of the top club competitions of the six confederations, namely the AFC Champions League Elite, CAF Champions League, CONCACAF Champions Cup, Copa Libertadores, OFC Champions League and UEFA Champions League, and it retains the world title of the preceding FIFA Club World Cup.[9]
The inaugural edition of the tournament took place from September to December 2024, with the final stages played in Qatar.[10]
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Format
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The competition features a series of intercontinental play-offs between clubs from all confederations except UEFA, whose club receives a bye to the final.[9][11][12]
- First round: The OFC representative will face the AFC or CAF representative on an alternating basis (a draw for the 2024 edition determined the AFC representative would play in the first round of even-numbered years). The match, denominated as the "FIFA African–Asian–Pacific Cup play-off", is hosted by the higher-ranked club in the men's national teams' FIFA rankings.
- Second round: The other AFC/CAF representative (which received a bye) will face the winners of the first round in a match denominated the "FIFA African–Asian–Pacific Cup", hosted by the higher-ranked club in the men's national teams' FIFA rankings. Elsewhere, the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF representatives will face at a neutral venue in a match denominated the "FIFA Derby of the Americas".
- Play-off: The two second round winners will face at a neutral venue, in a match denominated the "FIFA Challenger Cup".
- Final: The play-off winners will face the UEFA representative at a neutral venue, in a match denominated the "FIFA Intercontinental Cup", to determine the champions.
If a match is tied after normal playing time, extra time is played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is held to determine the winner.
Bracket
| Derby of the Americas | Challenger Cup | Intercontinental Cup Final | ||||||||||||||||
| Hosted at neutral venue | Hosted at neutral venue | |||||||||||||||||
| CONMEBOL representative | UEFA representative | |||||||||||||||||
| Hosted at neutral venue | ||||||||||||||||||
| CONCACAF representative | Challenger Cup winner | |||||||||||||||||
| Derby of the Americas winner | ||||||||||||||||||
| African–Asian–Pacific Cup play-off | African–Asian–Pacific Cup | African–Asian–Pacific Cup winner | ||||||||||||||||
| Hosted by higher-ranked team | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hosted by higher-ranked team | AFC or CAF representative | |||||||||||||||||
| AFC or CAF representative | Play-off winner | |||||||||||||||||
| OFC representative | ||||||||||||||||||
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Trophies
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The FIFA Intercontinental Cup trophy (golden colour), which has undergone slight changes compared to the old FIFA Club World Cup trophy presented from 2005 to 2023, and the three secondary intercontinental trophies: the Challenger Cup (white colour), the Derby of the Americas (blue colour) and the African–Asian–Pacific Cup (red colour).
The FIFA Intercontinental Cup trophy is similar in design to the FIFA Club World Cup trophy used from 2005 to 2023. It features a circular base with six pillars extending upward from it, supporting a globe shaped like a football. The trophy is gold in colour and has a plaque on the base with the name and year of the tournament, which means a new trophy will be commissioned every year. The base is taller than the said Club World Cup trophy.[13]
The three trophies for the earlier rounds of the tournament resemble smaller versions of the main FIFA Intercontinental Cup trophy. The trophies are primarily silver and feature four pillars supporting the globe at the top. The bases' heights are similar to that on the 2005–2023 Club World Cup trophy. The trophies are identical to each other aside from the plaque on the base which says the name of each cup, and the accent colour: red for the African–Asian–Pacific Cup, blue for the Derby of the Americas, and white for the Challenger Cup.[14][15]
The winners of the competition are also entitled to receive the FIFA Champions Badge; it features an image of the trophy, which the reigning champion is entitled to display on its first-team kit only, up until and including, the final of the next championship.[16][17]
Results
Finals
Secondary trophy winners
In addition to the final, trophies are awarded to the winning teams of the African–Asian–Pacific Cup (contested by the AFC, CAF and OFC representatives), Derby of the Americas (contested by the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL representatives) and Challenger Cup (contested by the winners of the two aforementioned matches).[9]
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Awards
See also
References
External links
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