2018 FIFA Club World Cup

2018 FIFA Club World Cup

FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 presented by Alibaba Cloud كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم الإمارات العربية المتحدة 2018
Tournament details
Host country	United Arab Emirates
Dates	12–22 December
Teams	7 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Real Madrid (4th title)
Runners-up	Al Ain
Third place	River Plate
Fourth place	Kashima Antlers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Goals scored	33 (4.13 per match)
Attendance	152,675 (19,084 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gareth Bale Rafael Santos Borré (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Gareth Bale
Fair play award	Real Madrid
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) ^[1] was the 15th 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. ^[2] The tournament was hosted by the United Arab Emirates from 12 to 22 December 2018. ^{[3] [4]}

Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won the previous two editions, and qualified for the 2018 edition as well. They successfully defended their title (their third consecutive) after defeating Al Ain 4–1 in the final. With the win, they broke the tie with their club rivals Barcelona to become the outright record winners of the competition.

Host bids

The application process for the 2017–2018 as well as the 2015–2016 editions, i.e. two hosts, each hosting two years, began in February 2014. ^[5] Member associations interested in hosting must submit a declaration of interest by 30 March 2014, and provide the complete set of bidding documents by 25 August 2014. ^[6] The FIFA Executive Committee was to select the hosts at their meeting in Morocco in December 2014, ^[7] but the final decision was delayed until the FIFA Executive Committee meetings on 19–20 March 2015. ^[8]

The following countries expressed an interest in bidding to host the tournament: ^[9]

•   Brazil
•   Japan
•   United Arab Emirates

The FIFA Executive Committee officially confirmed the United Arab Emirates as hosts of the 2017 and 2018 tournaments on 20 March 2015 during their meeting in Zürich, Switzerland. ^[3]

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the tournament.

River Plate

Real Madrid

Kashima Antlers

Espérance de Tunis

Guadalajara

Team Wellington

Al Ain

class=notpageimage|

Location of teams of the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup.

Team	Confederation	Qualification	Qualified date	Participation (bold indicates winners)
Entering in the semi-finals
River Plate	CONMEBOL	Winners of the 2018 Copa Libertadores [10]	9 December 2018 [note 1]	2nd (Previous: 2015)
Real Madrid TH	UEFA	Winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League [11]	26 May 2018	5th (Previous: 2000, 2014 , 2016 , 2017 )
Entering in the second round
Kashima Antlers	AFC	Winners of the 2018 AFC Champions League [12]	10 November 2018	2nd (Previous: 2016)
Espérance de Tunis	CAF	Winners of the 2018 CAF Champions League [13]	9 November 2018	2nd (Previous: 2011)
Guadalajara	CONCACAF	Winners of the 2018 CONCACAF Champions League [14]	25 April 2018	Debut
Entering in the first round
Team Wellington	OFC	Winners of the 2018 OFC Champions League [15]	20 May 2018	Debut
Al Ain	AFC (host)	Winners of the 2017–18 UAE Pro League [16]	14 May 2018 [note 2]	Debut

Notes

1. The second leg of the Copa Libertadores Finals, originally scheduled on 24 November 2018, was postponed to 9 December 2018 due to an attack on the Boca Juniors team bus when several players were injured.
2. Al Ain won the 2017–18 UAE Pro League on 21 April 2018. Their participation in the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup was officially confirmed on 14 May 2018 after Al-Jazira became the last team from the United Arab Emirates other than Al Ain to be eliminated from the 2018 AFC Champions League. Al Ain themselves were eliminated from the 2018 AFC Champions League on 15 May 2018, thereby confirming them entering the first round.

Venues

The two venues were the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain.

Al Ain	Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi Al Ain class=notpageimage| Location of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup.
Hazza bin Zayed Stadium	Zayed Sports City Stadium
24°14′44.14″N55°42′59.7″E / 24.2455944°N 55.716583°E / 24.2455944; 55.716583 (Hazza bin Zayed Stadium)	24°24′57.92″N54°27′12.93″E / 24.4160889°N 54.4535917°E / 24.4160889; 54.4535917 (Zayed Sports City Stadium)
Capacity: 22,717	Capacity: 43,000

Match officials

A total of six referees, twelve assistant referees, and six video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. ^{[17] [18]} FIFA announced on 22 November 2018 that the trio of referees and assistant referees from CAF were changed. ^{[19] [20]}

Confederation	Referee	Assistant referees	Video assistant referee
AFC	Ryuji Sato	Toru Sagara Hiroshi Yamauchi	Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed
CAF [a]	Bamlak Tessema Weyesa	Zakhele Thusi Siwela Waleed Ahmed
CONCACAF	Jair Marrufo	Frank Anderson Corey Rockwell	Mark Geiger
CONMEBOL	Wilton Sampaio	Rodrigo Figueiredo Bruno Boschilia	Mauro Vigliano
OFC	Matthew Conger	Tevita Makasini Mark Rule
UEFA	Gianluca Rocchi	Elenito Di Liberatore Mauro Tonolini	Paweł Gil Massimiliano Irrati Danny Makkelie

Notes

1. The officiating team from CAF replaced the original trio of Mehdi Abid Charef, Abdelhak Etchiali (both from Algeria) and Anouar Hmila (from Tunisia).

Squads

Main article: 2018 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. ^[2]

Matches

The draw of the tournament was held on 4 September 2018, 10:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA Headquarters in Zürich, 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 (teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA). ^[21] At the time of the draw, the identity of the teams from AFC, CAF and CONMEBOL were not known. ^{[22] [23]}

If a match was tied after normal playing time: ^[2]

• For elimination matches, extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out would be held to determine the winner.
• For the matches for fifth place and third place, no extra time would be played, and a penalty shoot-out would be held to determine the winner.

First round

Second round

Semi-finals

Final

15 December – Al Ain

Kashima Antlers

3

19 December – Abu Dhabi

Guadalajara

2

Kashima Antlers

1

Real Madrid

3

22 December – Abu Dhabi

Real Madrid

4

18 December – Al Ain

Al Ain

1

15 December – Al Ain

River Plate

2 (4)

12 December – Al Ain

Espérance de Tunis

0

Al Ain (p)

2 (5)

Al Ain (p)

3 (4)

Al Ain

3

Team Wellington

3 (3)

Match for fifth place

Match for third place

18 December – Al Ain

22 December – Abu Dhabi

Guadalajara

1 (5)

Kashima Antlers

0

Espérance de Tunis (p)

1 (6)

River Plate

4

All times are local, GST (UTC+4). ^[24]

First round

12 December 2018 (2018-12-12)

19:30

Al Ain	3–3 (a.e.t.)	Team Wellington
Shiotani 45' Doumbia 49' Berg 85'	Report	Barcia 11' Clapham 15' Ilich 44'
Penalties
Diaky Berg El Shahat Shiotani Caio	4–3	Allen Kilkolly Ilich Watson Gulley

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 15,279 ^[25]

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

Second round

15 December 2018 (2018-12-15)

17:00

Kashima Antlers	3–2	Guadalajara
Nagaki 49' Serginho 69' (pen.) Abe 84'	Report	Zaldívar 3' Léo Silva 90+4' (o.g.)

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 3,997 ^[26]

Referee: Bamlak Tessema Weyesa (Ethiopia)

---

15 December 2018 (2018-12-15)

20:30

Espérance de Tunis	0–3	Al Ain
	Report	Ahmed 2' El Shahat 16' Al-Ahbabi 60'

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 21,333 ^[27]

Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)

Match for fifth place

18 December 2018 (2018-12-18)

17:30

Guadalajara	1–1	Espérance de Tunis
Sandoval 5' (pen.)	Report	Belaïli 38' (pen.)
Penalties
Zaldívar Marín Godínez Van Rankin Salcido Pineda Ponce Brizuela	5–6	Belaïli Machani Chemmam Bguir Khenissi Derbali Coulibaly Dhaouadi

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 5,883 ^[28]

Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

Semi-finals

18 December 2018 (2018-12-18)

20:30

River Plate	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Al Ain
Borré 11', 16'	Report	Berg 3' Caio 51'
Penalties
Scocco Quintero Pratto Borré Pérez	4–5	Caio Shiotani Al-Ahbabi Abdulrahman Yaslam

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 21,383 ^[29]

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

---

19 December 2018 (2018-12-19)

20:30

Kashima Antlers	1–3	Real Madrid
Doi 78'	Report	Bale 44', 53', 55'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 30,554 ^[30]

Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)

Match for third place

22 December 2018 (2018-12-22)

17:30

Kashima Antlers	0–4	River Plate
	Report	Zuculini 24' G. Martínez 73', 90+3' Borré 89' (pen.)

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 13,550 ^[31]

Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

Final

Main article: 2018 FIFA Club World Cup Final

22 December 2018 (2018-12-22)

20:30

Real Madrid	4–1	Al Ain
Modrić 14' Llorente 60' Ramos 79' Nader 90+1' (o.g.)	Report	Shiotani 86'

Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 40,696 ^[32]

Referee: Jair Marrufo (United States)

Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	3
	Rafael Santos Borré	River Plate
3	Marcus Berg	Al Ain	2
	Gonzalo Martínez	River Plate
	Tsukasa Shiotani	Al Ain
6	Hiroki Abe	Kashima Antlers	1
	Mohamed Ahmed	Al Ain
	Bandar Al-Ahbabi	Al Ain
	Mario Barcia	Team Wellington
	Youcef Belaïli	Espérance de Tunis
	Caio	Al Ain
	Aaron Clapham	Team Wellington
	Shoma Doi	Kashima Antlers
	Tongo Doumbia	Al Ain
	Hussein El Shahat	Al Ain
	Mario Ilich	Team Wellington
	Marcos Llorente	Real Madrid
	Luka Modrić	Real Madrid
	Ryota Nagaki	Kashima Antlers
	Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid
	Gael Sandoval	Guadalajara
	Serginho	Kashima Antlers
	Ángel Zaldívar	Guadalajara
	Bruno Zuculini	River Plate

1 own goal

• Léo Silva (Kashima Antlers, against Guadalajara)
• Yahya Nader (Al Ain, against Real Madrid)

Awards

See also: FIFA Club World Cup awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. ^[33]

Adidas Golden Ball Alibaba Cloud Award	Adidas Silver Ball	Adidas Bronze Ball
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)	Caio (Al Ain)	Rafael Santos Borré (River Plate)
FIFA Fair Play Award
Real Madrid

FIFA also named a man of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament. ^{[34] [31] [32]}

Alibaba Cloud Match Award

Match	Man of the match	Club	Opponent
1	Khalid Eisa	Al Ain	Team Wellington
2	Hussein El Shahat	Al Ain	Espérance de Tunis
3	Shoma Doi	Kashima Antlers	Guadalajara
4	Rami Jridi	Espérance de Tunis	Guadalajara
5	Khalid Eisa (2)	Al Ain	River Plate
6	Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	Kashima Antlers
7	Rafael Santos Borré	River Plate	Kashima Antlers
8	Marcos Llorente	Real Madrid	Al Ain

References

1. "Alibaba E-Auto signs as Presenting Partner of the FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 9 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015.
2. "Regulations FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018" (PDF). FIFA.com.
3. "2022 FIFA World Cup to be played in November/December". FIFA.com. 21 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 March 2015.
4. "OC for FIFA Competitions approves procedures for the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup". FIFA.com. 14 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017.
5. "Blatter: A legacy for the future". FIFA.com. 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013.
6. "Bidding process opened for eight FIFA competitions". FIFA.com. 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014.
7. "India may get to host FIFA Club World Cup". India.com. 15 October 2014.
8. "FIFA Executive committee meeting agenda now available". FIFA. 11 March 2015. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
9. "High interest in hosting FIFA competitions". FIFA.com. 9 May 2014. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014.
10. "River Plate triumph in Superclásico Libertadores final". FIFA.com. 9 December 2018.
11. "Real Madrid make it three in a row". FIFA.com. 26 May 2018.
12. "Kashima win maiden AFC Champions League title". FIFA.com. 10 November 2018.
13. "Esperance win third African club title". FIFA.com. 9 November 2018.
14. "Chivas claim continental glory to end five-decade drought". FIFA.com. 26 April 2018.
15. "Team Wellington crowned continental kings, earn Club World Cup berth". FIFA.com. 20 May 2018.
16. "Al Ain book UAE 2018 berth". FIFA.com. 22 April 2018.
17. "Match officials for UAE 2018 appointed". FIFA.com. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
18. "Referees, Assistant Referees & VAR for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018" (PDF). FIFA.com. 16 October 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
19. "Update to referees list for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018". FIFA.com. 22 November 2018.
20. "Referees, Assistant Referees & VAR for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018" (PDF). FIFA.com.
21. "Draw shows path to Club World Cup title". FIFA.com. 4 September 2018.
22. "The FIFA Club World Cup draw explained". FIFA.com. 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018.
23. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 - Official Draw". YouTube. 4 September 2018.
24. "Match Schedule FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018" (PDF). FIFA.com.
25. "Match report – First round – Al Ain FC v Team Wellington FC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
26. "Match report – Second round – Kashima Antlers v CD Guadalajara" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
27. "Match report – Second round – ES Tunis v Al Ain FC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
28. "Match report – Match for fifth place – ES Tunis v CD Guadalajara" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
29. "Match report – Semi-finals – CA River Plate v Al Ain FC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 December 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
30. "Match report – Semi-finals – Kashima Antlers v Real Madrid CF" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
31. "Match report – Match for third place – Kashima Antlers v CA River Plate" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 22 December 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
32. "Match report – Final – Real Madrid CF v Al Ain FC" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
33. "Bale, Caio and Borre sweep awards". FIFA.com. 22 December 2018.
34. "Alibaba Cloud Match Award winners". FIFA . 19 December 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2021.^{[ dead link ]}

External links

• FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018, FIFA.com