2019 FIFA Club World Cup

The 2019 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 presented by Alibaba for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 16th 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 hosted by Qatar between 11 and 21 December 2019, taking place at two venues in Al Rayyan.[2]

2019 FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019
presented by Alibaba
كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم قطر 2019
Tournament details
Host countryQatar
CityAl Rayyan
Dates11–21 December
Teams7 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsEngland Liverpool (1st title)
Runners-upBrazil Flamengo
Third placeMexico Monterrey
Fourth placeSaudi Arabia Al-Hilal
Tournament statistics
Matches played8
Goals scored30 (3.75 per match)
Attendance166,426 (20,803 per match)
Top scorer(s)Algeria Baghdad Bounedjah
Libya Hamdou Elhouni
(3 goals each)
Best player(s)Egypt Mohamed Salah
Fair play awardTunisia Espérance de Tunis
2018
2020

Real Madrid, winners of the last three Club World Cup titles, were unable to defend their title, having been eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. The eventual winners of that competition, Liverpool, went on to win the Club World Cup for the first time, beating Mexican side Monterrey 2–1 in the semi-finals, before requiring extra time to claim a 1–0 win over Flamengo in the final.[3]

Host appointment edit

With proposals for an expanded Club World Cup, FIFA delayed the announcement of a host. A host was to be announced by FIFA on 15 March 2019, though this was later delayed.[4] On 28 May 2019,[5] FIFA announced that the 2019 and 2020 tournament host would be appointed at the FIFA Council meeting in Paris, France, on 3 June 2019.[6]

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 Club World Cup retained its original format ahead of the expected revamp in 2021.[7]

Qualified teams edit

Team Confederation Qualification Qualified date Participation
Entering in the semi-finals
  Flamengo CONMEBOL Winners of the 2019 Copa Libertadores 23 November 2019[8] 1st
  Liverpool UEFA Winners of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League 1 June 2019[9] 2nd (Previous: 2005)
Entering in the second round
  Al-Hilal AFC Winners of the 2019 AFC Champions League 24 November 2019[10] 1st
  Espérance de Tunis CAF Winners of the 2018–19 CAF Champions League 7 August 2019[note 1] 3rd (Previous: 2011, 2018)
  Monterrey CONCACAF Winners of the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League 1 May 2019[11] 4th (Previous: 2011, 2012, 2013)
Entering in the first round
  Hienghène Sport OFC Winners of the 2019 OFC Champions League 11 May 2019[12] 1st
  Al-Sadd AFC (host) Winners of the 2018–19 Qatar Stars League 13 August 2019[note 2] 2nd (Previous: 2011)

Notes

  1. ^ The second leg of the final was played on 31 May 2019. However, the match was abandoned and Espérance de Tunis were initially declared champions by the referee. However, on 5 June 2019 the CAF Executive Committee ordered the match to be replayed, until a decision by CAS on 31 July 2019 ordered the decision to be taken by the CAF Disciplinary Board, who on 7 August 2019 restored the title to Espérance de Tunis.
  2. ^ Al-Sadd won the 2018–19 Qatar Stars League on 4 April 2019. Their participation in the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup was officially confirmed on 13 August 2019 after Al-Duhail became the last team from Qatar other than Al-Sadd to be eliminated from the 2019 AFC Champions League. Al-Sadd themselves were eliminated from the 2019 AFC Champions League on 22 October 2019, confirming their first round entrance.

Venues edit

The tournament was held in the city of Al Rayyan, at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium, which previously hosted matches at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, including the final for the latter. A third venue in Al Rayyan, Education City Stadium, was also originally planned to host matches during the tournament, including the final.[13] In December 2019, FIFA moved all three matches (the second semi-final on 18 December and the third place match and final on 21 December) that were due to be played at the Education City Stadium to Khalifa International Stadium after the opening of the Education City Stadium was postponed to early 2020.[14]

Match officials edit

Five referees, ten assistant referees, and six video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[15][16]

Confederation Referee Assistant referees Video assistant referee
AFC   Abdulrahman Al-Jassim   Taleb Al-Marri
  Saoud Al-Maqaleh
  Fu Ming
CAF   Mustapha Ghorbal   Mahmoud Abouelregal
  Mokrane Gourari
  Bakary Gassama
CONCACAF   Ismail Elfath   Kyle Atkins
  Corey Parker
  Alan Kelly
CONMEBOL   Roberto Tobar   Christian Schiemann
  Claudio Ríos Ortiz
  Esteban Ostojich
UEFA   Ovidiu Hațegan   Octavian Șovre
  Sebastian Gheorghe
  Juan Martínez Munuera
  Benoît Millot

One support referee was also named for the tournament.

Confederation Support referee
OFC   Abdelkader Zitouni

Squads edit

Each team had to name a 23-man squad (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match.[17]

Matches edit

The draw of the tournament was held on 16 September 2019, 14:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, 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).[18] At the time of the draw, the identity of the teams from AFC and CONMEBOL were not known.[19][20]

If a match was tied after normal playing time:[17]

  • 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, AST (UTC+3).[21]

First round edit

Al-Sadd  3–1 (a.e.t.)  Hienghène Sport
Report

Second round edit

Al-Hilal  1–0  Espérance de Tunis
Report

Monterrey  3–2  Al-Sadd
Report

Match for fifth place edit

Al-Sadd  2–6  Espérance de Tunis
Report

Semi-finals edit

Flamengo  3–1  Al-Hilal
Report

Monterrey  1–2  Liverpool
Report

Match for third place edit

Monterrey  2–2  Al-Hilal
Report
Penalties
4–3

Final edit

Liverpool  1–0 (a.e.t.)  Flamengo
Report

Goalscorers edit

Rank Player Team Goals
1   Baghdad Bounedjah   Al-Sadd 3
  Hamdou Elhouni   Espérance de Tunis
3   Anice Badri   Espérance de Tunis 2
  Roberto Firmino   Liverpool
  Rogelio Funes Mori   Monterrey
  Bafétimbi Gomis   Al-Hilal
  Abdelkarim Hassan   Al-Sadd
8   Bruno Henrique   Flamengo 1
  Carlos Eduardo   Al-Hilal
  Salem Al-Dawsari   Al-Hilal
  Giorgian De Arrascaeta   Flamengo
  Sameh Derbali   Espérance de Tunis
  Alfonso González   Monterrey
  Hassan Al-Haydos   Al-Sadd
  Naby Keïta   Liverpool
  Maximiliano Meza   Monterrey
  Carlos Rodríguez   Monterrey
  Antoine Roïné   Hienghène Sport
  Ró-Ró   Al-Sadd
  Leonel Vangioni   Monterrey

1 own goal

Final ranking edit

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
    Liverpool (UEFA) 2 2 0 0 3 1 +2 6
    Flamengo (CONMEBOL) 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1 3
    Monterrey (CONCACAF) 3 1 1 1 6 6 0 4
4   Al-Hilal (AFC) 3 1 1 1 4 5 −1 4
5   Espérance de Tunis (CAF) 2 1 0 1 6 3 +3 3
6   Al-Sadd (AFC) (H) 3 1 0 2 7 10 −3 3
7   Hienghène Sport (OFC) 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0
Source: FIFA
(H) Hosts

Awards edit

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. Mohamed Salah of Liverpool won the Golden Ball award, sponsored by Adidas, which is jointly awarded with the Alibaba Cloud Award to recognise the player of the tournament.[30]

Adidas Golden Ball
Alibaba Cloud Award
Adidas Silver Ball Adidas Bronze Ball
  Mohamed Salah
(Liverpool)
  Bruno Henrique
(Flamengo)
  Carlos Eduardo
(Al-Hilal)
FIFA Fair Play Award
  Espérance de Tunis

FIFA also named a man of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament.[31]

Alibaba Cloud Match Award
Match Man of the match Club Opponent
1   Baghdad Bounedjah   Al-Sadd   Hienghène Sport
2   Rodolfo Pizarro   Monterrey   Al-Sadd
3   André Carrillo   Al-Hilal   Espérance de Tunis
4   Hamdou Elhouni   Espérance de Tunis   Al-Sadd
5   Bruno Henrique   Flamengo   Al-Hilal
6   Mohamed Salah   Liverpool   Monterrey
7   Luis Cárdenas   Monterrey   Al-Hilal
8   Roberto Firmino   Liverpool   Flamengo

Criticism edit

In 2017, three member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council along with Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and criminalised trips for their citizens to the country. In October, FIFA sold 200 Club World Cup tickets to fans from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and 500 to those from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. In November 2019, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticised FIFA for neglecting fan welfare and selling tickets for the Club World Cup to those banned by their governments. HRW stated that FIFA should be aware of the risks that the football supporters can face in their countries and ensure that they are not exposed to the risk of harassment or prosecution.[32]

On 5 November 2019, Liverpool Chief Executive Peter Moore assured that the Qatari authorities had permitted LGBT football fans to attend the FIFA Club World Cup matches in December 2019.[33]

References edit

  1. ^ "Alibaba E-Auto signs as Presenting Partner of the FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015.
  2. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 to be played from 11 to 21 December". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Firmino writes Liverpool into Club World Cup history". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Agenda of meeting no. 9 of the FIFA Council" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 7 March 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  5. ^ "FIFA Council meeting agenda now available". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 28 May 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Agenda of meeting no. 10 of the FIFA Council" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 28 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  7. ^ "FIFA Council appoints Qatar as host of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020" (Press release). FIFA. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Gabigol brace clinches Libertadores for Flamengo". FIFA.com. 23 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Liverpool sink Spurs for sixth European crown". FIFA.com. 1 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Al Hilal fire themselves to the Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 24 November 2019.
  11. ^ "Monterrey crowned continental kings for fourth time". FIFA.com. 2 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Hienghene claim historic OFC title". FIFA.com. 11 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Education City Stadium to host FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 final". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 September 2019. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  14. ^ "New FIFA Club World Cup champions to be crowned at Khalifa International Stadium". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 7 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Match officials for the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 appointed". FIFA.com. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  16. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 – List of Appointed Match Officials" (PDF). FIFA.com. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  17. ^ a b "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 Regulations" (PDF).
  18. ^ "Follow the FIFA Club World Cup draw". FIFA.com. 12 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Organising Committee approves draw procedures for FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Draw Procedures – FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  21. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 Match Schedule" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  22. ^ "Match report – First round – Al-Sadd SC v Hienghène Sport" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  23. ^ "Match report – Second round – Al Hilal SFC v ES Tunis" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  24. ^ "Match report – Second round – CF Monterrey v Al-Sadd SC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  25. ^ "Match report – Match for fifth place – Al Sadd SC v Espérance Tunis" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  26. ^ "Match report – Semi-finals – CR Flamengo v Al Hilal SFC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  27. ^ "Match report – Semi-finals – CF Monterrey v Liverpool FC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  28. ^ "Match report – Match for third place – CF Monterrey v Al Hilal SFC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 December 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  29. ^ "Match report – Final – Liverpool FC v CR Flamengo" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  30. ^ "Salah headlines Qatar 2019 award winners". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  31. ^ "Alibaba Cloud Match Award winners". FIFA. 2019. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  32. ^ "FIFA criticised over ticket sales to fans banned from Qatar". TheTicketingBusiness. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  33. ^ "Liverpool assured LGBT fans welcome at Club World Cup in Qatar". LGBT Life. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2019.

External links edit