Compare, reader, the two world club competitions organized by FIFA.
The first with 32 participants, the best of the four most recent years of all confederations. Lasting approximately one month. With a successful format, the same as the World Cup of national teams held from 1998 to 2022.
A great competition, held for the first time in the middle of this year, in the USA, with the presence of the Brazilians Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Palmeiras and with Chelsea, from England, being champions.
Called by FIFA the Club World Cup – and the World Cup by it Sheet (but not by this columnist).
The second competition, with six teams, held since 2024, with the champions of the year in their respective continents, starting in one month (September, two matches, in different countries) and ending in another month (December, in a third country).
Its strange regulations stipulate that two of the teams (in 2025, Pyramids and Auckland City), to be champions, need to win four matches, while another (in 2025, Paris Saint-Germain) needs to win just one. A sporting madness.
Called by FIFA the Intercontinental Cup – also by FIFA Sheet (and by this columnist).
I ask the question: which of these two championships should be more important? Obvious to everyone except those who promote them.
I asked FIFA the question, through the communication channel offered to journalists: will the title of each of these competitions have the same weight? The federation did not respond.
Why? Because it has no interest in pointing out, in supporting, the blatantly obvious, as the brilliant chronicler Nelson Rodrigues (1912-1980) wrote.
For FIFA, either PSG or Flamengo (Intercontinental finalists) or Chelsea will be world champions. The weight of each achievement she will leave for the world of football to decide. Smart, because that way you don’t displease anyone.
Such cleverness, via omission, is despicable. FIFA fuels controversy, and perhaps that is the objective, following the saying: “Speak well or speak badly, speak about me”.
What a lack of character, attitude, courage. It is imperative that an entity that considers itself serious, and given its size (211 members, more than the United Nations), changes the relevance of the Club World Cup.
To achieve this, it would not be necessary to reduce the importance of the Intercontinental Cup, making it a “Little World Cup”. Especially because FIFA decided years ago that the original Intercontinental (from 1960 to 2004) has World Cup status. Going back is suicide.
But, look (you, reader, and you, FIFA), it’s too simple to solve, easy even: the Club World Cup is now called the Club Super World Cup. Due to its size, and because it is held every four years (the Intercontinental is annual), it deserves this concept, this poster.
That’s what I called it, call it and will call it: Supermundial.
Because it is impossible to equate PSG or Flamengo, plus Real Madrid (Intercontinental champion in 2024), or any other previous intercontinental/world champion, with Chelsea. It’s like comparing bananas with apples, mixing garlic with bugs.
The winner of the Intercontinental has its merits. It is a huge achievement, which should be celebrated and valued. World champion, OK.
But Chelsea achieved more than anyone to date. Your title is far superior, it is special and it is, so far, unique. He is above the others, whether FIFA likes it or not. He is world super champion. And that’s final.
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