2021 FIFA Club World Cup

For the Club World Cup tournament planned for 2020 and postponed to early 2021, see 2020 FIFA Club World Cup.
2021 FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021
presented by Alibaba Cloud
كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم
الإمارات العربية المتحدة 2021
Tournament details
Host countryUnited Arab Emirates
Dates3–12 February 2022
Teams7 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsEngland Chelsea (1st title)
Runners-upBrazil Palmeiras
Third placeEgypt Al Ahly
Fourth placeSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Tournament statistics
Matches played8
Goals scored27 (3.38 per match)
Attendance100,752 (12,594 per match)
Top scorer(s)Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea)
Raphael Veiga (Palmeiras)
Yasser Ibrahim (Al Ahly)
Abdoulay Diaby (Al-Jazira)
2 goals each
Best player(s)Thiago Silva (Chelsea)
Fair play awardEngland Chelsea
← 2020
2022 →

The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th 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 was held from 3 to 12 February 2022 in the United Arab Emirates.[1]

Defending champions Bayern Munich did not qualify as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League. The eventual winners of that competition, Chelsea, won the Club World Cup for the first time, beating Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the semi-finals before requiring extra time to claim a 2–1 win over Brazilian side Palmeiras in the final.

Host appointment

An expanded Club World Cup in China was planned to be held in June and July 2021.[2][3] However, due to fixture congestion caused by the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on football, the Tokyo Olympics, UEFA European Championship and Copa América were postponed from mid-2020 to mid-2021. As a result, FIFA announced in March 2020 that they would postpone the expanded Club World Cup to later in 2021, 2022 or 2023,[4][5] before cancelling it entirely.[6]

On 4 December 2020, the FIFA Council announced that the Club World Cup, using the previous format, would be held in late 2021 and hosted by Japan.[7] However, on 8 September 2021, the Japan Football Association dropped its commitment to host the tournament, owing to the possibility of restrictions on fan attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[8][9] Numerous countries expressed interest in hosting the tournament as bidding was reopened, including Brazil, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.[10][11][12][13] On 20 October 2021, the FIFA Council named the United Arab Emirates as the host of the tournament, and postponed the event from late 2021 to early 2022.[14]

Qualified teams

class=notpageimage|
Location of the teams participating in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup
Team Confederation Qualification Qualified date Participation
Entering in the semi-finals
Brazil Palmeiras CONMEBOL Winners of the 2021 Copa Libertadores 27 November 2021 2nd (Previous: 2020)
England Chelsea UEFA Winners of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League 29 May 2021 2nd (Previous: 2012)
Entering in the second round
Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal AFC Winners of the 2021 AFC Champions League 23 November 2021 2nd (Previous: 2019)
Egypt Al Ahly CAF Winners of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League 17 July 2021 7th (Previous: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020)
Mexico Monterrey CONCACAF Winners of the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League 28 October 2021 5th (Previous: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019)
Entering in the first round
French Polynesia AS Pirae OFC Nominated by OFC[note 1] 31 December 2021 1st
United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira AFC (host) Winners of the 2020–21 UAE Pro League 20 October 2021[note 2] 2nd (Previous: 2017)

Notes

  1. ^ On 4 June 2021, the OFC announced that the 2021 OFC Champions League had been cancelled due to border closures throughout the Pacific caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and no champions would be awarded.[15] The OFC representative at the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup, which would have originally been the winners of the 2021 OFC Champions League, was confirmed to be Auckland City by the OFC on 3 August 2021. The team was chosen by the OFC Executive Committee based on sporting merit principles, which used an overall ranking which took into consideration the final placing of each OFC Champions League between 2016 and 2020, and applied to the clubs nominated by their member association to qualify for the 2021 OFC Champions League.[16] On 31 December 2021, Auckland City withdrew from the competition due to delayed reopening of the borders in New Zealand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reintroduction of the mandatory managed isolation and quarantine system upon returning to the country. As a result, AS Pirae were nominated as the OFC's representative in their place.[17]
  2. ^ Al-Jazira won the 2020–21 UAE Pro League on 11 May 2021, and on 16 October 2021 Al-Wahda became the last team from the United Arab Emirates to be eliminated from the 2021 AFC Champions League. However, Al-Jazira's participation was not confirmed until the United Arab Emirates were appointed as tournament hosts on 20 October 2021.

Venues

The matches were played at two venues in the city of Abu Dhabi, both of which hosted matches at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Abu Dhabi
class=notpageimage|
Location of the host city of the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup.
Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium Al Nahyan Stadium
Capacity: 37,500 Capacity: 15,000

Match officials

Five referees, ten assistant referees, and seven video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[18][19]

Confederation Referees Assistant referees Video assistant referees
AFC Australia Chris Beath
  • Australia Anton Shchetinin
  • Australia Ashley Beecham
 United Arab Emirates Ammar Al-Jeneibi
CAF Algeria Mustapha Ghorbal
  • Algeria Mokrane Gourari
  • Algeria Abdelhak Etchiali
CONCACAF Mexico César Ramos
  • Mexico Alberto Morin
  • Mexico Miguel Hernández
 Canada Drew Fischer
CONMEBOL Argentina Fernando Rapallini
  • Argentina Juan Pablo Belatti
  • Argentina Diego Bonfá
  • Colombia Nicolás Gallo
  • Argentina Mauro Vigliano
UEFA France Clément Turpin
  • France Nicolas Danos
  • France Cyril Gringore

One support referee was also named for the tournament.

Confederation Support referee
OFC Papua New Guinea David Yareboinen

Semi-automated offside technology was tested during the tournament.[20]

Squads

Main article: 2021 FIFA Club World Cup squads

Each team named a 23-man squad (three of whom had to be goalkeepers). Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match.[21]

Matches

The draw of the tournament was held on 29 November 2021, 17:00 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).[22]

If a match was tied after normal playing time:[21]

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

All times are local, GST (UTC+4).[23]

First round

Al-Jazira United Arab Emirates4–1French Polynesia AS Pirae
 Report
Attendance: 4,970[24]

Second round

Al Ahly Egypt1–0Mexico Monterrey
 Report
Attendance: 9,396[25]
Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia6–1United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
 Report
Attendance: 12,538[26]
Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Semi-finals

Palmeiras Brazil2–0Egypt Al Ahly
 Report
Attendance: 11,902[27]
Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia0–1England Chelsea
Report
Attendance: 19,175[28]
Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Match for fifth place

Monterrey Mexico3–1United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
 Report
Attendance: 892[29]

Match for third place

Al-Hilal Saudi Arabia0–4Egypt Al Ahly
Report
Attendance: 9,008[30]

Final

Main article: 2021 FIFA Club World Cup final
Chelsea England2–1 (a.e.t.)Brazil Palmeiras
 Report
Attendance: 32,871[31]

Goalscorers

Rank Player Team Goals
1 Mali Abdoulay Diaby United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira 2
Egypt Yasser Ibrahim Egypt Al Ahly
Belgium Romelu Lukaku England Chelsea
Brazil Raphael Veiga Brazil Palmeiras
5 Egypt Ahmed Abdel Kader Egypt Al Ahly 1
United Arab Emirates Zayed Al-Ameri United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
United Arab Emirates Ahmed Al-Attas United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
Saudi Arabia Salem Al-Dawsari Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Brazil Bruno United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
Peru André Carrillo Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Brazil Dudu Brazil Palmeiras
Egypt Amr El Solia Egypt Al Ahly
Mexico Rogelio Funes Mori Mexico Monterrey
Egypt Mohamed Hany Egypt Al Ahly
Germany Kai Havertz England Chelsea
Nigeria Odion Ighalo Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Saudi Arabia Mohamed Kanno Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Serbia Miloš Kosanović United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira
Mali Moussa Marega Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Mexico César Montes Mexico Monterrey
Brazil Matheus Pereira Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal

1 own goal

Awards

See also: FIFA Club World Cup awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. Thiago Silva of Chelsea won the Golden Ball award, sponsored by Adidas, which is jointly awarded with the Alibaba Cloud Award to recognise the player of the tournament.[32]

Adidas Golden Ball
Alibaba Cloud Award 		Adidas Silver Ball Adidas Bronze Ball
Brazil Thiago Silva
(Chelsea) 		Brazil Dudu
(Palmeiras) 		Brazil Danilo
(Palmeiras)
FIFA Fair Play Award
England Chelsea

FIFA also named a man of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament.

Alibaba Cloud Match Award
Match Man of the match Club Opponent Ref.
1 United Arab Emirates Mohammed Jamal United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira French Polynesia AS Pirae [33]
2 Egypt Ramy Rabia Egypt Al Ahly Mexico Monterrey [34]
3 Brazil Matheus Pereira Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira [35]
4 Brazil Raphael Veiga Brazil Palmeiras Egypt Al Ahly [36]
5 Argentina Maximiliano Meza Mexico Monterrey United Arab Emirates Al-Jazira [37]
6 Croatia Mateo Kovačić England Chelsea Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal [37]
7 Egypt Yasser Ibrahim Egypt Al Ahly Saudi Arabia Al-Hilal [38]
8 Germany Antonio Rüdiger England Chelsea Brazil Palmeiras [38]

References

  1. ^ "Update on FIFA Club World Cup and OFC preliminary competition for Qatar 2022". FIFA. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. ^ Harris, Rob (13 March 2019). "FIFA wants 24-team Club World Cup in 2021". APNews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ^ "FIFA Council unanimously appoints China PR as hosts of new Club World Cup in 2021". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Statement from the FIFA President". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Bureau of the FIFA Council decisions concerning impact of COVID-19". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. ^ Olley, James (16 December 2022). "FIFA to launch new Club World Cup format with 32 teams in 2025". ESPN. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  7. ^ "FIFA Council passes landmark reforms for female players and coaches, agrees further steps in COVID-19 response". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Update on FIFA Club World Cup 2021". FIFA. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  9. ^ hermesauto (8 September 2021). "Asian Youth Games in China postponed to 2022 owing to virus; Japan drops 2021 Club World Cup". The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  10. ^ Ogden, Mark (2 October 2021). "FIFA Club World Cup: South Africa to rival Qatar, UAE as potential hosts - sources". ESPN. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  11. ^ "Rio deve ser candidato a sede do Mundial de Clubes de 2021, diz secretário: 'Estamos nos movimentando'" [Rio should be a candidate to host the 2021 Club World Cup, says secretary: 'We are moving']. Globo (in Portuguese). 16 September 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  12. ^ "إحداها مصر.. 3 دول إفريقية مرشحة لاستضافة مونديال الأندية" [One of them is Egypt.. 3 African countries are candidates to host the Club World Cup]. winwin.com (in Arabic). 13 September 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  13. ^ "خاص.. المغرب يكشف موقفه من استضافة مونديال الأندية 2021" [Special.. Morocco reveals its position on hosting the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup]. winwin.com (in Arabic). 15 September 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  14. ^ "FIFA Council endorses global summit to discuss the future of football". FIFA. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  15. ^ "OFC competitions calendar rescheduled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Auckland City nominated for the FIFA Club World Cup 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 August 2021.
  17. ^ "FIFA statement on OFC representative at the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 31 December 2021.
  18. ^ "Match officials for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 appointed". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  19. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 – List of Appointed Match Officials" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Semi-automated offside tech aids referees and fans at FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 9 February 2022.
  21. ^ a b "Regulations FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021" (PDF). FIFA. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  22. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 draw to take place on 29 November". FIFA. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  23. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021: Match schedule" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  24. ^ "Al-Jazira vs. AS Pirae". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  25. ^ "Al Ahly vs. Monterrey". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 February 2022. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  26. ^ "Al-Hilal vs. Al-Jazira". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 February 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  27. ^ "Palmeiras vs. Al Ahly". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  28. ^ "Al-Hilal vs. Chelsea". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  29. ^ "Monterrey vs. Al-Jazira". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  30. ^ "Al-Hilal vs. Al Ahly". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  31. ^ "Chelsea vs. Palmeiras". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  32. ^ "Thiago Silva wins adidas Golden Ball as best player of UAE 2021". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  33. ^ "Wonder goals help Al Jazira cruise through". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  34. ^ "Hany gem books Ahly semi with Palmeiras". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  35. ^ "Record-breaking Al Hilal set up Chelsea semi". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  36. ^ "Veiga, Dudu propel Palmeiras into final". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  37. ^ a b "Lukaku fires Chelsea to the final". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  38. ^ a b "Havertz the hero as Chelsea conquer the world". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
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