Three Ways To Improve The FIFA Club World Cup
The FIFA Club World Cup, an annual competition between the top clubs in each region, is currently taking place in Japan. The 2011 edition is the 8th of the tournament and despite having clubs like Barcelona and Santos, it’s usually not viewed as that prestigious. How can the tournament be improved on and off the pitch? Below are three ideas.
Three Ways To Improve The FIFA Club World Cup
Expand The Tournament - Currently, there are six qualifiers from six confederations plus the top team from the host country. The current format should stay the same but there could be several more teams added. There could be playoffs between regions as in World Cup Qualifying such as the CONCACAF Champions League runner-up playing the Copa Libertadores runner-up or AFC Champions League runner-up playing the CAF Champions League runner-up. The field could be expanded to 12 or 16 teams.
Other options for the extra teams could be chosen based on the strength of each region. For example, UEFA would get the most teams followed by CONMEBOL and the rest split up amongst the other regions. While there’s not a universal ranking system for club teams, one could be created and the top ranked sides not automatically qualified could be selected. Whatever way is decided, it definitely improve the tournament to include more of the top teams from Europe as well as other nations (such as USA) where they haven’t been represented at the tournament.
Have Europe/USA Host - The tournament has been played almost every time in Asia/Middle East (with exception of 2000 in Brazil) which makes for not the most ideal television kickoff times for Europe, North America, and South America. For example, the semifinals are played or 5:30 AM USA Eastern Time, 11:30 AM UK time, and 12:30 PM CET (Central Europe) time. Moving the tournament to Spain, Italy, Germany, England, or somewhere else in Europe would help to improve TV ratings in these countries.
Another reason is that the tournament needs to move to different areas each year to help grow the tournament. While Asia and the Middle East are areas where soccer is growing, it can make the tournament an afterthought in other places. It’s a similar theory to the World Cup that it’s a good idea to move the tournament around to help it grow globally. By keeping it almost exclusively in one region, it’s going to prevent the tournament from increase in popularity and prestige.
Move The Tournament To Summer - This point goes along with the previous as it’s virtually impossible to have a tournament in the Middle East during the summer (110 degree weather). While there are leagues that play in the summer (MLS, Scandinavia), moving it July/August could be a great way to lead into the upcoming domestic seasons. The tournament could be played in December (which it currently is now) if it is held in the Middle East in certain years or during World Cup years.
These are just a few ideas to improve the FIFA Club World Cup but I wouldn’t hold my breath about these happening. The tournament is already scheduled to be in Asia/Middle East through 2014 and there’s no sign that it will be moved to Europe and/or the USA.
