The Seattle Sounders won the Concacaf Champions League last week, beating Mexico’s Pumas 3-0 after a 2-2 draw in the first leg. The victory made Seattle the first Major League Soccer (MLS) team to lift the trophy in a generation and gave the United States a continental title the country had coveted for more than 20 years. And it should also make Seattle the first MLS club to play in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Except that no one, not even FIFA, is sure when the tournament will take place and what format it will take. The traditional date of the dispute, in December, is unfeasible this year because of the World Cup of national teams in Qatar, and the grand plans for an expanded version of the Club World Cup, to be played in China, came to nothing afterwards. announced and immediately torpedoed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“No idea,” a FIFA official replied via text message when asked about when Seattle should plan to participate in the tournament.
After an initial edition in 2000, the Club World Cup has been held annually since 2005, with representatives from each of FIFA’s continental confederations pitted against each other to determine the world champion club. Top European clubs have dominated the contest, with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Chelsea lifting the trophy over the past ten years. Facing teams like these in an international competition has been the dream of many MLS players, officials and fans.
FIFA, which organizes the tournament, is keen to expand it and has come up with a plan for a competition involving 24 clubs, held mid-year every four years rather than annually. At a meeting held in Shanghai in 2019, the organization approved the change and granted China the right to organize the first edition, which would have taken place in 2021. The coronavirus soon made this plan impractical.
The pandemic resulted in the postponement of the 2021 World Cup, held in February this year and won by Chelsea. Theoretically, it was the last to be played in the older, smaller format. Playing a new World Cup in 2022 could be problematic, as league calendars are already likely to be squeezed due to the break for the National Team World Cup, which starts in November. There have been discussions about holding the first expanded version in mid-2023, but for now there is no official date for the tournament.
Under the original plans for the expanded tournament, three teams from the Concacaf region – which spans North and Central America, and the Caribbean – would participate. One of them would presumably be the Seattle Sounders after their win on Wednesday, although official classification criteria have yet to be announced.
It is also possible that the older, smaller format will be retained for a few more years. Not even the Sounders officials seemed sure of what will happen, despite the enthusiasm sparked by Wednesday’s victory.
“We don’t have a format yet, and the venue hasn’t been decided yet,” said Garth Lagerwey, the club’s general manager. “We’ve been told that the dispute is likely to take place in February. Probably in the Middle East. Maybe.”
Despite the uncertainty, Lagerwey, a veteran MLS executive, did little to hide his enthusiasm for his team’s achievement.
“Let’s play Real Madrid or Liverpool, man,” he said. “In a game for real.”
Officially, FIFA limited itself to saying that “new details on the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup will be announced at the appropriate time”.
An American club came close to playing in a Club World Cup in the past. The first edition organized by FIFA took place in 2000, a tournament involving eight teams, in Brazil. That year was the last year that an American club, Los Angeles Galaxy, won the Concacaf title. So, for the 2001 tournament, which would involve 12 teams, the club was registered, along with Real Madrid and other teams from all over the world.
But financial concerns and the collapse of a sponsorship resulted in the tournament being cancelled. And that was Galaxy’s only opportunity. Since then, teams from Mexico and Costa Rica have won the Concacaf title each year – much to the MLS’s frustration.
Now that the Sounders have put a stop to that series, the club and MLS are hoping that the Club World Cup – wherever it takes place, and whatever its format – runs more smoothly.
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