Today, Wednesday, the FIFA Club World Cup starts, which Morocco will host in the cities of Tangier and Rabat, with the participation of the Spanish Real Madrid, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahly, the Moroccan Vidad, the Brazilian Flamengo , the American Seattle Sounders and the City of Auckland in New Zealand, Al-Ahli in Egypt and Wydad in Morocco.
This is the third time that Morocco has hosted the Club World Cup, having previously hosted it twice in 2013 and 2014, when it was crowned by the German team Bayern Munich in 2013 and the Spanish team won the title in 2014. Real Madrid team.
The regular start date for the Club World Cup has been delayed for the third year in a row due to the hosting of the World Cup in Qatar in November and December, with the tournament itself due to take place in 2022. in China with 32 teams, but it has been pushed back to 2025.
The tournament kicks off today with the opening match between Al Ahli and New Zealand’s Auckland City at Tangier Grand in the World Cup preliminary round. Al Hilal will kick off their league campaign next Saturday with a match against Moroccan Vidad at the Prince Moulay Abdullah Stadium in Rabat.
Al-Hilal enters the competition with a nomination from the Asian Football Confederation due to the unfinished current version of the AFC Champions League as Al-Hilal is the last champion to be awarded a continental title.
In the second round of the competition, the winner of the opening match between Al Ahly and Auckland will also meet the American team Seattle Sounders at the Tangier Stadium.
As usual, the European and South American champions (Real Madrid and Brazil’s Flamengo) will start their Club World Cup campaign from the semi-finals.
Moroccan team Wydad competes in the Club World Cup as African Champions League champions in its latest edition, while Al Ahly competes in the continental competition as runners-up in place of the host country team, as stipulated by the tournament’s regulations. that two teams from the same country do not participate in the same version.
Spain’s Real Madrid compete as Champions of the Champions League, Brazil’s Flamengo (South American Continental Champion), American Seattle Sounders (North American Continental Champion) and New Zealand’s Auckland City (Ocean Champion).
Spanish club Real Madrid holds the record for most Club World Cup wins with 4 titles it has achieved in years (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018), followed by compatriot Barcelona who have won the title three times in years ( 2009, 2011 and 2015), then Bayern Munich, Corinthians and each Two of them were titles, while the title was won once each: Sao Paulo and Internacional from Brazil, Milan and Inter Milan from Italy, and Manchester United and Liverpool England.