Raja face Auckland in Club World Cup

[jakeXT]

After four failed bids to host the World Cup, Morocco finally gets to stage a global event.

However, the Fifa Club World Cup over the next 10 days is little more than a consolation prize.

The tournament featuring the club champions of each continent kicks off in the city of Agadir tomorrow.

Participants this year range from New Zealand part-timers Auckland City to all-conquering Germany champions Bayern Munich.

The cast also includes Brazilian Ronaldinho, who will lead Atletico Mineiro's challenge from South America, Italy World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi and Mohamed Aboutrika, one of the finest African players of his generation.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25318591

[Aquavit]

1. I've never followed the Club World Cup before...

but I will this year. It looks like it'll be a fun competition!

[jakeXT]

2. It's a bit slanted towards South America and Europe.

Doing a group mode is probably unrealistic nowadays, still it would've been more interesting.


http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/index.html


The maiden edition of this competition was separated into two rounds. The eight participants were split into two groups of four teams. The winner of each group met in the final while the runners-up played for third place. The competition changed its format during the 2005 relaunch into a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shoot-outs used to decide the winner if necessary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Club_World_Cup