The FIFA Club World Cup is a tournament held every year by FIFA, where the winners can call themselves the best club in the world. The current format has seven clubs competing for the title in a straight knockout tournament.
Qualification is based on performance in each regional confederation’s top-tier club tournament, with the winners of the UEFA Champions League (Europe), the Copa Libertadores (South America), the AFC Champions League (Asia), the CAF Champions League (Africa), the CONCACAF Champions League (North America) and the OFC Champions League (Oceania) all qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup, along with the champions of the host nation’s domestic league.
With European teams usually dominating the tournament, it is no surprise that FIFA Club World Cup betting odds are weighted towards the UEFA Champions League winners. Fans can find betting tips and predictions for the tournament every year on sites such as BetGold.
How Does FIFA Club World Cup Works?
The FIFA Club World Cup was first played in 2000, and it was merged with the Intercontinental Cup in 2005 to create the tournament in its present guise. As mentioned earlier, seven clubs participate in the tournament, with some being given significant advantages over the others.
The playoff round sees the host nation’s domestic title winner play the winner of the OFC Champions League, and the winner of that tie proceeds to the quarter-finals. Here, they are met by the winners from the Asian, African and North American Champions Leagues, with the two winners of these knockout ties going on to meet the European and South American representatives in the semi-finals.
As the UEFA and CONMEBOL sides enter the tournament at the semi-final stage, the betting odds are heavily stacked in their favour, with the other sides having to play more matches to get to the final.
Club World Cup Best Performing Teams
Historically, Real Madrid are the most successful side in the FIFA Club World Cup, having won it four times. The dominance of European clubs can be seen by the fact that they have won the tournament on 12 out of 16 occasions, with South American clubs winning it the other four times.
Barcelona (thrice) and Corinthians (twice) are the only other teams to have won the FIFA Club World Cup more than once. Thus, it is a good idea for betting fans to back the team from UEFA for the tournament, with the other teams usually at long odds for the tournament.
FIFA Club World Cup Betting Tips By BetGold
It may get a little harder for European sides to dominate the tournament in the future, however, with FIFA planning to expand the Club World Cup to a 24-team tournament from 2021. It would be held every four years, not annually, and replace the FIFA Confederations Cup.
The new format would see all the UEFA Champions League winners and runners-up of the previous four seasons participate, along with the Europa League and Copa Libertadores winners, with the other eight teams qualifying from the other confederations.
Thus, while European teams would still be dominant in terms of number, the odds will be spread out over more teams, with all of the European and South American sides capable of winning the tournament. This would be extremely interesting from a betting point-of-view, as there would be more viable betting options and more variety for sports betting fans to place their bets.
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