2015 FIFA Club World Cup
Once again the best of the best go against each other for a chance to get their team jersey tattooed with the FIFA Club World Cup champions logo. As little as the actual logo might be on the jerseys, it adds an immediate value to the aesthetics of the team jersey.
FC Barcelona(UEFA) becomes the most successful team in the ‘FIFA Club World Cup’ competition. Their success in the 2015 version of the tournament makes sure that UEFA’s dominance in the competition continues. As of now, we can almost guarantee a UEFA club to be in the finale. As a fan of the sport, it is a dream to see other confederations challenge UEFA and CONMEBOL in this competition. So far in the competition’s history, UEFA, CONMEBOL and CAF are the 3 confederations that have had representation in the final. UEFA have had a representation in every final while CAF replaced CONMEBOL on two occasions in the tournament’s 15-year history.
For the 7th time, Japan hosted the tournament. Barcelona has now been to five finals and won four. (Messi never lost one)
The teams in contention
AFC – Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan)
Guangzhou Evergrande (China)
CAF – TP Mazembe (The Democratic Republic of the Congo)
CONMEBOL – River Plate (Argentina)
CONCACAF – Club America (Mexico)
OFC – Auckland City (New Zealand)
UEFA – Barcelona (Spain)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (AFC) played Auckland City (OFC) in the play-off round. Sanfrecce Hiroshima won 2 -0, knocking out Auckland City. Sanfrecce continued into the quarter-final and knocked out TP Mazembe with a 3-0 victory. Club America (CONCACAF) was also knocked out in the quarter-final by Guangzhou Evergrande (AFC).
River Plate (CONMEBOL) ended Sanfrecce Hiroshima’s undefeated ‘clean sheet’ run in the semi-final. A solo goal was all it took to end this Sanfrecce run. Barcelona(UEFA) saw off Guangzhou Evergrande(OFC) with a 3-0 win in the semi-final. River Plate and Barcelona went to the final. Another UEFA-CONMEBOL final. FC Barcelona + their offensive trio were too much for River Plate to handle. The final was another 3-0 win for Barcelona.
Luis Suarez was the tournament top goal scorer with 5 goals in 2 matches. Barcelona took home the silverware and all other awards; the golden ball, silver ball and bronze ball went to Luis Suárez, Lionel Messi and Andrés Iniesta, respectively.
Final standings of the FIFA Club World Cup
- Barcelona (UEFA)
- River Plate (CONMEBOL)
- Sanfrecce Hiroshima (AFC)
- Guangzhou Evergrande (AFC)
- Club America CONMEBOL
- TP Mazembe (CAF)
- Auckland City (OFC)
