The Origins of this Article
Gary Striker pinged me the other day with this xeet (pronounce the ‘x’ as a ‘sh’ and you’ve nailed it):
Boca Jrs. qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup is as exciting a newsflash as what arrives in my toilet the morning after a hard night out. OK, that’s perhaps a bit harsh. But a discerning reader would still be forgiven for asking the obvious question: “WTF is the FIFA Club World Cup?” or “Why Should This Matter to Me?” Fair points, both.
Given that I had some free time on my hands, I chose to roll up my sleeves, slip on the veneer of genteel journalism, and do some deep research to get the facts.
Beginnings, First Fizzle and Inconsequence (1957-1990s)
Ideas for a global competition pitting the best clubs against each other in a tournament was first broached back in the early ‘50s. Mind you, at this time “global” meant Europe vs. South America.
Thusly was the Intercontinental Cup born. The inaugural competition consisted of a single match between respective continental club champions Vasco de Gama (South America) and Real Madrid (Europe) in 1957. It was held fairly regularly throughout the ’60s and ’70s, though it was never endorsed or sanctioned by FIFA. FIFA went so far to deride the competition as “nothing more than a European-South American friendly match”. Ouch.
To be fair during these decades it hardly lived up to the grandeur of “best vs. best”, as most European clubs declined to participate, citing schedule conflicts and/or concerns about on-pitch violence.
Left: Néstor Combin of AC Milan takes a breather and noseful of smelling salts after a 1969 match against Estudiantes de la Plata. Not even a yellow, ref?
By the late ’70s the Intercontinental Cup was a paler shadow of its originally pale shadow intent. Sponsorship by Toyota, and moving the match venues to neutral grounds in Japan, merely served to put the competition on life support.
Lackluster European enthusiasm for the newly rebranded Toyota Cup forced UEFA into strong-arm tactics. They amended the European Cup (a regional club championship akin to today’s Champion’s League) rules to enforce mandatory appearance in the Toyota Cup by the victorious team. Threatened with international lawsuits, UEFA clubs begrudgingly acquiesced. After all, the BEST soccer matches come about when there’s a legal gun pointed at your back.
The ’80s saw the South Americans dominate the competition, winning 7 of the 10 fixtures. In the ’90s the situation reversed, with European clubs taking 7 of 10. Of course, none of this implies that anyone outside of the diehard supporters of the participating clubs gave a flying fuck about the Intercontinental Cup, and even then it was at best a shrugging interest.
A New Hope; or, FIFA to the Rescue! (1993-2001)
Throughout the ’80s and early ’90s many folks in the soccer biz kept a close eye on the trials and tribulations of the Toyota/Intercontinental Cup. People noticed how other regional confederations (CONCACAF in particular) were organizing their own mini-tournaments. FIFA can smell profit better than shark smells blood in the water, so it was only a matter of time before they began circling.
So in December 1993 members of a FIFA executive committee met in a Las Vegas casino (I’m not sure which one, but I’d like to think it was the newly opened Treasure Island — pirates, sharks, get it?) to hear a pitch for a new Club World Cup tournament.
The pitchman and ringleader of this soccer circle jerk was none other than the current president of powerhouse club AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi (seen below). Yes, the soon to be four-term prime minister of Italy, convicted tax cheat, and ‘bunga bunga’ orgy host was a key player in this.
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FIFA loved Silvio’s plan. They had to jump on board. A quote from an executive read: “The time is ripe for such a tournament. Every continent is at last generating a true club champion via their respective confederations, ensuring a proper level playing field and exciting competitions. FIFA has the most experience in running global… <cough> HOLY FUCK WE’RE GONNA PRINT MONEY!”
You cannot make this shit up. Except the last part. That’s not a real quote but I guarantee you it is what was going through the FIFA committee member’s minds in that Vegas suite when not whacked out on drugs and up to their saggy chins in hookers.
Of course, being FIFA it took them seven years to get their shit together. So, just days after the world survived Y2K and we introduced a new millennium seven brave clubs gathered down in Rio de Janeiro to battle for the crown.
If Jackson Pollock used soccer balls to paint he would have made that logo.
The Jan. 14 final pitted Brazilian clubs Vasco de Gama against Corinthians, the former unable to leverage home-field advantage and losing 4-3 in penalties after a 0-0 draw. Scintillating stuff, indeed, and surely proving the point that it wasn’t really about the lucre…
…Except that it was! Because by my simple calculations:
| Prize money awarded to teams | -$28M |
| TV Rights Sales | +$40M |
| Marketing & other promo costs | $0M (this was contracted out to a third party) |
| Tix, merch & concessions cut | >$0M |
| Profit for FIFA | $12M at least, probably double. |
The competition/profit was so good that FIFA immediately announced a new tournament in 2001, to be hosted in Spain. This time with 12 teams! Cue the excitement!
Alas, it was not to be.
The official excuse for the 2001 cancellation was “due to financial difficulties” which is code for “someone fucked up. Bad.” It turns out that the Swiss marketing corporation International Sport and Leisure (with whom FIFA had contracted to run the whole shebang) suddenly and inexplicably collapsed under the staggering accumulated weight of $175 million in debts. FIFA sure can pick those partners….
Pictured center: Jean Marie Weber, ISL chairman, flanked by two super trustworthy-looking gentlemen. Look JMW up and the most common description of him is “FIFA bag-man” — and this is not a compliment.
Salvation and a Path to Righteousness (2004-now?)
So eventually someone at FIFA was able to hire a semi-honest and marginally competent executive who was able to right this floundering ship. The Club World Cup began again in 2005 and has remained essentially in the same mediocre lane right through 2023, which is to say the supreme, ultimate club-level championship nobody gives a fuck about. More on this in the next chapter, as I am out of steam and need to make a beer run. But in true investigative journalistic fashion, I should mention that there’s a TWIST coming….
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