RABAT: One of the last Club World Cups in its current format begins on Wednesday in Morocco, where Real Madrid will be favourites for a record-extending fifth success at the Club World Cup, and in the process keeping up Europe’s dominance of the much-maligned FIFA competition.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar in December that an expanded Club World Cup is planned from 2025.

The bigger competition, which would feature 32 teams, has been a controversial pet project of Infantino’s for some time. A 24-team Club World Cup, involving eight European sides, had been due to take place in China in 2021 only to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World football’s governing body is yet to reveal any further details of the plans, but global players’ union FIFPro has already complained of Infantino making the announcement “unilaterally without seriously consulting...with the players”.

For now, the Club World Cup limps on with just seven teams, including the six continental champions.

After five consecutive editions in the Middle East it returns to Morocco, which hosted the tournament in 2013 and 2014, and Real will be expected to become the 10th consecutive European winners.

Real, who won previously in 2014 and then three successive tournaments from 2016 to 2018, are on course for a showdown with Flamengo of Brazil in the final but both must play a semi-final match first before they can set up an intriguing decider in Rabat on Feb 11.

“It’s always a pleasure to play in this competition, because to be in it, you have to win the Champions League,” said former Real player Emilio Butragueno, the club’s director of institutional relations. “It means that the team had great success in the previous season.”

European clubs have won the last nine editions of the event, dominating since 2012 when Brazil’s Corinthians beat Chelsea in the final in Japan in a rare South American success.

Last year’s Champions League and Copa Libertadores winners only join once the tournament reaches the final four stage but it begins on Wednesday when Egyptian giants Al Ahly meet Auckland City in Tangier in an opening playoff tie.

The Oceania champions from New Zealand compete for a record 10th time in the tournament against the equally experienced Cairo giants, who are at their eighth Club World Cup.

That winner advances to a quarter-final clash on Saturday against Seattle Sounders. The US club won last year’s CONCACAF Champions League

but had a miserable Major League Soccer campaign.

Real will enter in the semi-finals on February 8 and will play the winner of that quarter-final tie in Rabat.

They are not expected to travel to Morocco until just before their debut because they still have two La Liga games to play, at home against Valencia on Thursday and at Mallorca on Sunday.

Real got off to a good start to the season, winning 14 of their first 16 games, with no losses, but they haven’t been at their best recently. They won only two of their last seven matches in a stint that included defeat against rivals Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia.

Real are coming off a 0-0 draw at home against Real Sociedad in La Liga on Sunday, a result that left the defending champions five points behind leaders Barca. It was the first time the team was held scoreless this season in all competitions.

“January has been tough for us,” Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “But the team has been improving and it will get better. We will be competitive.”

The other semi-final on February 7 will see last year’s Copa Libertadores winners Flamengo take on either Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia or home hopes Wydad Casablanca.

Widely dismissed as an irrelevance in Europe because it often comes in the middle of their season, the competition is considered far more prestigious in the rest of the world, a chance for their best sides to pit themselves against giants like Real.

Brazilian clubs have won the Club World Cup four times. Wydad will be hoping to become the first African club to triumph.

The host nation is always represented, but Wydad also won last year’s CAF Champions League, and so Al Ahly — the team they beat in the final — have been invited to take part as well.

Walid Regragui led Wydad to that continental title before taking Morocco on a historic run to the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar. Wydad’s squad includes three players from that Morocco team.

“It’s nice for Morocco — particularly after the World Cup we had — for people to see that there’s football here, there are fans, and there are beautiful stadiums. It’s going to be fantastic for our country,” Regragui told FIFA.com.

The tournament will see a refereeing first after the International Football Association Board, the sport’s lawmakers, approved a trial that will allow fans in the stadium and the television audience to hear officials explain decisions taken after VAR reviews.

During the trial, referees will relay their decisions via a microphone connected to the public address system, though their conversation with video officials will remain private.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2023