Real Madrid is travelling soon to Lusail, Qatar, for the first final of the rebuilt FIFA Intercontinental Cup. This is a new competition, taking place for the first time in 2024, that pits the six winners of the FIFA confederations to determine one "Club World Champion".
The new FIFA Intercontinental Cup
Despite being a competition trying to determine the best club of the year, it clearly benefits the European side, as the UEFA representative gets direct access to the final. That means that, from now on, whichever teams wins UEFA Champions League will also get to play FIFA Intercontinental Cup final six months later. In this case, Real Madrid.
The rest of confederations do have to play more matches: the African-Asian-Pacific Cup and the Derby of the Americas.
First, the winners of the AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceania)’s Champions League play a playoff for the African-Asian-Pacific Cup. Al Ain from United Arab Emirates, winner of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League, defeated Australian Auckland City. Then, the winner plays against the African Champion. This debut year, Al Ahly from Egipto defeated Al Ain.
In parallel, Botafogo from Brazil (winner of the South-American Libertadores) and Pachuca from Mexico (winner of the CONCACAF Champions Cup) played the Derby of the Americas. The Mexican team won.
Then, the winner of the Americas and the winner from the African-Asian-Pacific regions played a sort of "semifinal" known as Challenger Cup. This year, it ended in penalties: Pachuca defeated Al Ahly and qualifies for the final, to be played Wednesday, December 18, against Real Madrid.
The old Intercontinental Cup
We previously covered the FIFA Club World Cup, which used to be very similar to the new Intercontinental Cup, held annually, but has been completely rebuilt for the 2025, turning into a World Cup clone, but with clubs instead of nations, held every four year during June and July.
The FIFA Club World Cup was created in 2000, and in 2004 became a replacement for the… Intercontinental Cup. The old Intercontinental Cup was held between 1960 and 2004, and it consisted on a single match, between the winners of UEFA Champions League (Europe) and CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores (South America).
During the eighties, the old Intercontinental Cup was even known as Toyota Cup and was played in Japan, but only between European and South-American teams.
All of that is history now: the Intercontinental Cup will be played each year in December with the winners of the six FIFA confederations club cups, with the FIFA Club World Cup being something completely different and played every four years.
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