2020 FIFA Club World Cup

The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation’s league champions. The tournament is being hosted by Qatar.

The event was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as the AFC, CONMEBOL, and CONCACAF champions would not have been decided in time for the tournament. Originally to be held in December 2020, on 17 November of the same year FIFA announced that the competition would be played between 1 and 11 February 2021.

Originally seven teams were to compete in the tournament. However, OFC’s representatives Auckland City withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related quarantine measures required by the New Zealand authorities. As a result, only six teams are competing, and the first round match, originally scheduled on 1 February 2021, was awarded as a 3–0 win to their first round opponents, host Qatar’s representatives Al-Duhail, who advanced automatically to the second round on 4 February 2021.

Liverpool are the defending champions, but will not defend their title after being eliminated in the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League round of 16.

Bayern Munich won the final 1–0 against UANL for their second FIFA Club World Cup title. By winning the trophy, Bayern Munich became only the second club in European football history (after Barcelona in 2009) to win all six titles (commonly known as a sextuple) on offer in a single calendar year.

Host appointment

With proposals for an expanded Club World Cup, FIFA delayed the announcement of a host. On 28 May 2019, FIFA announced that the 2019 and 2020 tournament host would be appointed at the FIFA Council meeting in Paris, France on 3 June 2019.

Qatar was appointed as the host for the 2019 and 2020 tournaments on 3 June 2019, serving as test events ahead of their hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The tournament will retain its original format ahead of the revamp in 2021.

Host appointment

Qualified teams

Venues

The matches are being played at two venues in the city of Al Rayyan, both of them to host matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar, attendance is limited to only 30% of the stadiums’ seating capacity.

A third stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, would originally host two matches, but following the withdrawal of Auckland City and the subsequent revision of match schedule, it would not be used for the tournament.

Match officials

Seven referees, twelve assistant referees, and seven video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.

Squads

Main article:

2020 FIFA Club World Cup squads

Each team had to name a 23-man squad (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Injury replacements are allowed until 24 hours before the team’s first match.

Matches

The match schedule was announced on 23 December 2020, with a revised schedule with change of venues announced on 18 January 2021. The draw of the tournament was held on 19 January 2021, 16:00 CET (UTC+1), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, to decide the matchups of the second round (between the first round winner and teams from AFC, CAF and CONCACAF), and the opponents of the two second round winners in the semi-finals (against teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA). At the time of the draw, the identity of the CONMEBOL team was not known.

If a match is tied after normal playing time:

For elimination matches, extra time is played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out is held to determine the winner.
For the matches for fifth place and third place, no extra time is played, and a penalty shoot-out is held to determine the winner.

All times are listed in AST ( UTC+3 ).

First round

Second round

Match for fifth place

Semi-finals

Match for third place

Final

Main article: 2020 FIFA Club World Cup Final

Goalscorers