| Tourney Name: | FIFA Club World Cup |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Other Titles: | FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 presented by Alibaba كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم قطر 2020 |
| Country: | Qatar |
| City: | Al Rayyan |
| Num Teams: | 6 |
| Confederations: | 5 |
| Venues: | 2 |
| Cities: | 1 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Second Other: | UANL |
| Third Other: | Al Ahly |
| Fourth Other: | Palmeiras |
| Matches: | 8 |
| Goals: | 12 |
| Player: |  Robert Lewandowski |
| Fair Play: | Al-Duhail |
| Prevseason: | 2019 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 presented by Alibaba for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions. The tournament was hosted by Qatar.
The event was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[1] as the AFC, CONMEBOL, and CONCACAF champions would not have been decided in time for the tournament. Originally to be held in December 2020, on 17 November of the same year FIFA announced that the competition would be played between 1 and 11 February 2021.[2]
Originally seven teams were to compete in the tournament. However, OFC's representatives Auckland City withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related quarantine measures required by the New Zealand authorities. As a result, only six teams competed, and the first round match, originally scheduled on 1 February 2021, was awarded as a 3–0 win to their first round opponents, host Qatar's representatives Al-Duhail, who advanced automatically to the second round on 4 February 2021.
Defending champions Liverpool did not qualify as they were eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League. The eventual winners of that competition, Bayern Munich, went on to win the Club World Cup for a second time, beating Al Ahly 2–0 in the semi-finals, before a 1–0 win over UANL in the final. In winning the title, Bayern Munich became only the second club in European football history (after Barcelona in 2009) to win all six competitions they entered (commonly known as a sextuple) in a single calendar year.[3]
With proposals for an expanded Club World Cup, FIFA delayed the announcement of a host. On 28 May 2019,[4] FIFA announced that the 2019 and 2020 tournament host would be appointed at the FIFA Council meeting in Paris, France, on 3 June 2019.[5]
Qatar was appointed as the host for the 2019 and 2020 tournaments on 3 June 2019, serving as test events ahead of their hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The tournament retained its original format ahead of the scheduled revamp.[6]
| Team | Confederation | Qualification | Qualified date | Participation (bold indicates winners) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entering in the semi-finals | |||||
| UEFA | Winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League | [7] | 2nd | ||
| Palmeiras | CONMEBOL | Winners of the 2020 Copa Libertadores | [8] | 1st | |
| Entering in the second round | |||||
| Al Ahly | CAF | Winners of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League | [9] | 6th | |
| Ulsan Hyundai | AFC | Winners of the 2020 AFC Champions League | [10] | 2nd | |
| UANL | CONCACAF | Winners of the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League | [11] | 1st | |
| Entering in the first round | |||||
| Al-Duhail | AFC (host) | Winners of the 2019–20 Qatar Stars League | 1st | ||
| | OFC | Nominated by OFC | 10th (planned) | ||
The matches were played in the city of Al Rayyan, at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium and Education City Stadium; both 40,000-seat venues which would later host matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[12] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar, attendance was limited to only 30% of the stadiums' seating capacity.[13] A third stadium in Al Rayyan, Khalifa International Stadium, would originally have hosted two matches, but following the withdrawal of Auckland City and the subsequent revision of the match schedule, it was not used for the tournament.[14] [12] [15]
Seven referees, twelve assistant referees, and seven video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[16] [17] Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista became the first woman to officiate at a senior FIFA men's tournament.[18]
| Confederation | Referees | Assistant referees | Video assistant referees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed | Khamis Al-Marri | ||
| CAF | Maguette Ndiaye | Rédouane Jiyed | ||
| CONCACAF | Mario Escobar | Drew Fischer | ||
| CONMEBOL | Edina Alves Batista | |||
| Esteban Ostojich | ||||
| OFC | Abdelkader Zitouni | |||
| UEFA | Danny Makkelie |
See main article: 2020 FIFA Club World Cup squads.
Each team had to name a 23-man squad (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match.[19]
The match schedule was announced on 23 December 2020,[14] with a revised schedule with change of venues announced on 18 January 2021.[12] The draw of the tournament was held on 19 January 2021, 16:00 CET (UTC+1), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, to decide the matchups of the second round (between the first round winner and teams from AFC, CAF and CONCACAF), and the opponents of the two second round winners in the semi-finals (against teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA). At the time of the draw, the identity of the CONMEBOL team was not known.[20] [21]
If a match was tied after normal playing time:[19]
All times are listed in AST (UTC+3).[22]
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See main article: 2020 FIFA Club World Cup Final.
Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time were counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out were counted as draws.
See also: FIFA Club World Cup awards.
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich won the Golden Ball award, sponsored by Adidas, which is jointly awarded with the Alibaba Cloud Award to recognise the player of the tournament.[23] [24]
| Adidas Golden Ball Alibaba Cloud Award | Adidas Silver Ball | Adidas Bronze Ball | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) |  André-Pierre Gignac(UANL) | Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) | |
| FIFA Fair Play Award | |||
| Al-Duhail | |||
FIFA also named a man of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament.[25]
| Match | Man of the match | Club | Opponent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | André-Pierre Gignac | UANL | Ulsan Hyundai | |
| 3 |  Ayman Ashraf | Al Ahly | Al-Duhail | |
| 4 |  Edmilson | Al-Duhail | Ulsan Hyundai | |
| 5 |  Luis Quiñones | UANL | Palmeiras | |
| 6 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich | Al Ahly | |
| 7 | Mohamed El Shenawy | Al Ahly | Palmeiras | |
| 8 | Joshua Kimmich | Bayern Munich | UANL |
