FIFA Club World Cup

FIFA Club World Cup

Organising body	FIFA
Founded	2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Region	International
Number of teams	32 (from 6 confederations)
Related competitions	FIFA Intercontinental Cup
Current champions	Manchester City (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	Real Madrid (5 titles)
Website	fifa.com/clubworldcup
2025 FIFA Club World Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. It was not held from 2001 to 2004 due to a combination of factors in the cancelled 2001 tournament, most importantly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL), but since 2005 it has been held every year. Views differ as to the cup's prestige: it struggles to attract interest in most of Europe, and is the object of heated debate in South America.^[1][2]

The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000, during which year it ran in parallel with the Intercontinental Cup, a competition played by the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores, with the champions of each tournament both recognised (in 2017) by FIFA as club world champions.^[3] In 2005, the Intercontinental Cup was merged with the FIFA Club World Championship, and in 2006, the tournament was renamed as the FIFA Club World Cup. The winner of the Club World Cup receives the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a FIFA World Champions certificate.

The current format, in use since the competition was revamped ahead of the 2025 edition, features 32 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation; 12 teams from Europe, 6 from South America, 4 from Asia, 4 from Africa, 4 from North, Central America and Caribbean, 1 from Oceania, and 1 team from the host nation. The teams are drawn into eight groups of four, with each team playing three group stage matches in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage, starting with the round of 16 and culminating with the final.

Real Madrid hold the record for most titles, having won the competition on five occasions. Corinthians' inaugural victory remains the best result from a host nation's national league champions. Teams from Spain have won the tournament eight times, the most for any nation. England has the largest number of winning teams, with four clubs having won the tournament. The current world champions are Manchester City, who defeated Fluminense 4–0 in the 2023 final.