The FIFA Club World Cup is about to kick off in Morocco, with Real Madrid heavily favoured to continue European football’s stranglehold on the competition.
Beginning on Wednesday, the tournament will see six other sides vie with the Spanish giants for the chance to be crowned the best club team on the planet.
Here is what you need to know:
Which teams are taking part?
The 19th edition of the Club World Cup brings together the respective champions of each of FIFA’s six premier regional competitions, alongside the host nation’s league champions.
Joining Real Madrid in this year’s tournament are sides from Morocco, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil and the United States.
Here is a full list of those taking part:
- Al Ahly, Egypt
- Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia
- Auckland City, New Zealand
- Flamengo, Brazil
- Real Madrid, Spain
- Seattle Sounders, United States
- Wydad AC, Morocco
Real Madrid, Auckland City, Seattle Sounders, Flamengo and Wydad AC all qualified as outright winners of their confederation’s top club tournaments.
The host country’s league champions Wydad AC also won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last year, so Egyptian runners-up Al Ahly were awarded the Club World Cup’s African spot.
Al Hilal were nominated by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as the region’s representative on account of being the reigning champions in the AFC Champions League. The latest iteration of the tournament will not finish until after the Club World Cup.