Well, we get to round off the year with a World Cup. Not that World Cup, but the FIFA Club World Cup, a mini-tournament which brings together the six continental confederations champions together with the national league champion from the host country. Japan is hosting the tournament this year which means that their representatives are Kashima Antlers who won the 2016 J League. This is far from being a straightforward soccer tournament. The actual tournament starts at the quarter final stage, but there is a play off round prior to that.
The tournament is already under way as the Kashima Antlers took down OFC Champions League winner Auckland City. So that put the hosts through to the quarter finals which were played on December 11th in Osaka. Even though they are called the quarter finals there are just the two matches confusingly and the winners from the two quarter-final matches go through to the semi finals which is where the big guns join the tournament.
The winners of the Copa Libertadores from CONMEBOL and the UEFA Champions League winners only come in at the semi final stage, which means that they would only need to win two games to get their hands on the FIFA Club World Cup 2016 Cup. An unfair advantage punters would probably proclaim, but this isn’t exactly a high-profile tournament that many put a lot of stock into. It is pretty much, every year, expected to be nothing more than a one-off title match between the CONMEBOL and UEFA Champions.
Real Madrid are running as 1/8 favourites at Bet365 to win the tournament this year, a huge dominance in the market over second favourites Atletico Nacional from Colombia.
FIFA Club World Cup 2016 Betting Odds
Real MAdird 1/8, Atlético Nacional 9/1, Club America 14/1, Kashima Antlers 20/1
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FIFA Club World Cup 2016 Draw
So the seven participants for this year’s tournament starting the play off round were Auckland City and the Kashima Antlers. Coming in at the quarter finals were Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Play Off Round
Kashima Antlers (AFC) Hosts
Auckland City – OFC Champions League Winners
Quarter Final Entrants
America – CONCACAF Champions League Winners
Mamelodi Sundowns – CAF Champions League Winners
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors – AFC Champions League Winners
Semi Final Entrants
Atletico Nacional – CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores Winners
Real Madrid – UEFA Champions League Winners
So far in the tournament, the Kashima Antlers beat Auckland 2-1 in the play off round. The Host moved through to face South African side Mamelodi Sundowns and beat them 2-0 to book themselves a place in the semifinals where they will take on Atletico Nacional on December 14th. The winner of the other quarter final was America who beat Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2-1. Mexican side America will go through and face Real Madrid in the semi final on December 15th.
December 18th will be the day of the final from Yokohama. Because the tournament doesn’t really start until the semifinals for most people, when the two big guns enter the fray, it is easy to see why the rest of it fades into obscurity.
FIFA Club World Cup Info
There is the usual fare of awards dished out at the FIFA Club World Cup 2016. You get the Golden Ball, the Golden Boot, the Most Valuable Player of the Final and the FIFA Fair Play Trophy as well. The tournament itself was only started in 2000 and it is into its 13th season because there was a big gap between the inaugural event and the second one. Japan is hosting the event for the eighth time out of all that. The dominance of the CONMEBOL and UEFA Confederation is clear to see when you look back at history.
The UEFA entrants have won eight of the previous 12 editions with the other four being claimed by a CONMEBOL representatives. It gets deeper than that because only on two occasions has a non-UEFA or non-CONMEBOL representative managed to get to the final. That was in 2010 with TP Mazembe reaching the final where they lost to Inter Milan and in 2013 when Raja Casablanca lost to Bayern Munich. So this is why you can expect to see the FIFA Club World Cup being nothing more than a showcase game between UEFA and CONMEBOL.
FIFA Club World Cup 2016 Betting Prediction
It is probably going to be Real Madrid who walks away with the title for the second time in their history. They won it a couple of years ago in beating San Lorenzo and UEFA has been dominating things since 2007. Eight of the last nine winners of the FIFA Club World Cup have been from UEFA so it pretty much cuts down the betting market. Madrid took it seriously enough last time, so look for them to follow it up.
