Five champions missed the Club World Cup, Barcelona Liverpool was unable to participate, Austrian underdog benefits

The first Club World Cup (FIFA World Club Cup) has entered the countdown, and the weekend will kick off in the United States. The opening game is host Miami International facing Cairo nationals. However, in the quadrennial competition, the five league champions were collectively absent last season, Barcelona and Liverpool were unable to participate, and the Austrian team became the biggest beneficiary.

The global club competition began in 1960 and initially adopted a two-round home and away game system, with European champions vs. South American champions. Real Madrid won the first championship, and the strength of European and American teams was still balanced in the early stages. In the first ten years, only three European teams, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan, could win the championship trophy.

Subsequently, due to the objection to the game time and venue of many teams, it later became the familiar Toyota Cup. It was not until the 21st century that it slowly evolved into a competition system where champions from six continents participated. However, with the decline in the strength of South American teams, since Corinthian defeated Chelsea in 2012, all the championships belong to Europe, and the influence of the Club World Cup has rapidly weakened. Many fans even believe that the Club World Cup is not as good as the European Super Cup.

In view of this, FIFA has revised the rules and changed the traditional Club World Cup to the Intercontinental Cup, retaining the original competition system. Real Madrid won the first Intercontinental Cup championship at the end of last year. At the same time, a Club World Cup was re-established, following the example of the national team in the World Cup, with a total of 32 teams participating, from six continents around the world, held every four years.

This summer, the first Club World Cup, which has been preparing for many years, has finally arrived. Unlike the World Cup, the Club World Cup does not need to participate in the qualifiers. The continental champions for four consecutive seasons are automatically shortlisted, and the remaining teams are determined by the ranking. The designated champion, coupled with the rankings, is an important element of the Club World Cup.

People found that under such rules, last season's Premier League champion Liverpool, La Liga champion Barcelona, ​​Serie A champion Naples, Eredivisie champion Eindhoven, and Portugal Super League champion Portugal Sports, five champions were absent in the top seven leagues, only Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga and Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1 participated as they wished.

Why is this?

It turns out that the Club World Cup is just like in the past, only considering the results of European competitions, and the league ranking has no impact. Even said that unlike the familiar European points ranking, the only reference for the Club World Cup is the results of the Champions League, and the results of the Europa League and the Europa League will not be included.

Therefore, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid (two-time champions) have been shortlisted as European champions, and European new champion Paris Saint-Germain has been locked in advance to participate in the 2029 Club World Cup.

The European region has a total of 12 places. In addition to 3 championships, the remaining 9 places are determined by ranking. Bayern Munich and Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Paris Saint-Germain in the French Ligue 1, Inter Milan and Juventus in Serie A, Porto and Benfica in the Portuguese Super League, Atletico Madrid in La Liga, and Salzburg in Austria, are the lucky ones to participate in the first Club World Cup.

As for Liverpool and Barcelona, ​​which are ranked higher in Europe, why can't they participate? The reason for Liverpool is very simple, because the Club World Cup stipulates that only two teams in each country participate, and Chelsea and Manchester City have automatically qualified, so all Premier League teams without a Champions League championship cannot participate.

Barcelona has had poor results in the Champions League for four consecutive seasons (calculated from the previous season), twice, once in the quarterfinals of 16, and the other once in the quarterfinals of 8, which is slightly inferior to Atletico Madrid's top 8 and once in the quarterfinals of 16. Fans should still remember that in April last year, Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain at home and missed the Champions League semi-finals, and also confirmed that Atletico Madrid won the last Club World Cup spot in La Liga.

At the same time, due to the regulations of up to two teams in each country, Salzburg won the last qualification for participating in the Champions League group stages in a row and once made a stable record of entering the top 16. It has to be said that teams such as Barcelona and Liverpool are unable to be shortlisted, which will benefit the impression of Austrian underdogs and can appear on the top stage of the World Club.

No matter what, every event has its own rules. Since Italy can miss the World Cup for two consecutive years, it seems understandable that many wealthy families cannot participate in the Club World Cup. At least, the 12 participating teams in Europe are enough to represent the top level of European football.

The biggest suspense is whether European teams will sweep teams from other continents, and do South American giants have a chance to win the championship?