FIFA Club World Cup: highlighting European football domination over the World

The FIFA club world cup is a yearly competition having the winners of the year's AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), CONCACAF Champions League (North America), Copa Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe) along with the host nation's national champions, participate in a straight knock-out tournament.

FIFA Club World Cup logo

 

Yesterday, Real Madrid easily won the FIFA club world cup by beating San Lorenzo 2-0. The match was clearly in favor of the Spanish club by contrast To the Argentine club who clearly were using the tactic of hard fouling and heavy physical approach to the game in an attempt to intimidate the Madrid players and compensate for what they lack in technical difference with the Spanish giants.

The tactic obviously did not work and Madrid controlled the game leading them to the title.

 Real Madrid players celebrate FIFA Club World Cup 2014

The trophy is obviously not a major title but it is not a competition taken lightly by the clubs involved as each continent tries to put its stamp on the World of football.

Here is a list of the competition winners from the last 10 years:

Japan 2005: São Paulo (Brazil) 1 - 0 Liverpool (England)

Japan 2006: Internacional (Brazil) 1 - 0 Barcelona (Spain)

Japan 2007: AC Milan (Italy) 4 - 2 Boca Juniors (Argentina)

Japan 2008: Manchester United (England) 1 - 0 LDU Quito (Ecuador)

UAE 2009: Barcelona (Spain) 2 - 1 (AET) Estudiantes (Argentina)

UAE 2010: Inter Milan (Italy) 3 - 0 TP Mazembe (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Japan 2011: Barcelona (Spain) 4 - 0 Santos (Brazil)

Japan  2012: Corinthians (Brazil) 1 - 0 Chelsea (England)

Morocco 2013: Bayern Munich (Germany) 2 - 0 Raja Casablanca (Morocco)

Morocco 2014: Real Madrid (Spain) 2 - 0 San Lorenzo (Argentina)

Taking a closer look at the last 8 years results, it is clear that European clubs have been dominating the event. Apart from year 2012 when Brazilian Corinthians won the competition, UEFA Champions League winners have been dominating the competition.

The reasons behind European domination on the competition are quite numerous and the most important of which can be summed up in the following points:

• From the start of the 2000s, European football clubs are the most rich clubs in the World. Football has simply become a game of money. The Qatar Investment Authority funded PSG to rise again. Sheikh Mansour Ben Zayed's acquisition of Manchester City FC took the club to the status of Premier League Champions in 2012 and 2014. Real Madrid and Barcelona control the media in Spain making them among the most rich clubs in the World. Roman Abramovich took Chelsea ownership and has spent 2 billion GBP in 10 years on the club... Money can simply buy elite players, stadium upgrades and training and development facilities evolving the club to the next level.

• Europe football competitions are just simply more covered and paid: UEFA Champions League and European league club competitions are really way ahead of all the continents competitions. The media coverage, level of competItion, diversity of divisions and money prizes in Europe just enrich the clubs largely making them a huge attraction to talented players from all over the World, thus centering all the quality in Europe and luring international players from their teams to play in Europe.

• European clubs football academies are the most developed in the World. Ajax, FK Partizan, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid and Feyenoord academies produce a huge number of Europe top flight players and this allows the teams to reach new heights with the new talents developed.

The FIFA club World cup is a nice trophy for any club to add mainly because it is an intercontitental event. The results of the last years show a true reflection of what football in the World is at now: the money, talents, players, developement and media are all heavily centered in Europe and its leagues. This appears to be a never ending trend and it seems it will be even more pronounced in the future ahead.

Bundesliga getting to where La Liga was 5 years ago

I watched Bayern Munich earlier during the night as they won 2-0 against Freiburg. It was fairly one sided and in truth it should have ended in a larger scoreline. With 13 wins and 3 draws out of the 16 games they played so far in the Bundesliga, you feel as if the league title is already secured for the Bavarian team.

With Dortmund looking like a shadow of the team which reached Champions League final in May 2013, it seems there is no one who could stop Bayern from winning it all...

Anytime Bayern take the pitch, there is a deep sense of expectation of a high scoring game about to unfold. Already, scores of 4-0 and 5-0 are recurring often as Bundesliga teams are looking like they have no means of stopping this flow of one-sided games.

    Bayern's Lewandowski celebrating with Götze, Alaba, Alonso and Robben

This year, the Bavarians are predicted to perform the treble; such is their domination. But for the fans, the Bundesliga is slowly transforming into a one-sided affair, hardly the thing anyone would want from a competition.

In 2009, Barcelona had won the treble with a team so dominant that any game they lost would be a major event which took the spotlight worldwide. The golden generation of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and co. dominated La Liga and Europe during several years back then, so much that La Liga games started to look desperately boring as the outcome was inevitable before the whistle was blown.

Not to say that Barcelona was not rightfully a legendary team, but they dictated play so much and took control of possession hugely while teams struggled; matches were looking like the same movie replayed over and over again with the same ending...

Last year, when Atletico Madrid won La Liga, This kind of domination was nowhere to be seen as a three way battle with Real and Barcelona kept us thrilled till the last whistle of the season. It was well worth watching!

Taking a look at England, the Premier League is nowadays always unpredictable with teams from the bottom half of the table causing shocks and upsets to big clubs. One can never predict a match before it starts and that makes the game more enjoyable with the title race and the relegation battle going to the wire...

Football is all about competition... It combines emotions of bliss, tension, exhilaration, sadness, tears, euphoria, passion and excitment all felt over 90 minutes... We thrive to live it with the sheer madness it generates when the ball embraces the net in the dying minutes of the game. We cry in agony, we laugh and shout, this is what it is all about...

From a neutral perspective, the game would be much more animated when the competition is tight. The Bundesliga today is the best example where the competition on the title does not almost exist.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I am taking sides and want to see Bayern lose. In the end, it is a glorious team with some of the most talented and exciting players on Earth. They deserve to win and dominate.

But wouldn't it be better for the spectator to see them fight to snatch the trophy? After all, without its ups and downs, even life is not fun living...