2021 FIFA Club World Cup

For the Club World Cup tournament planned for 2020 and postponed to early 2021, see 2020 FIFA Club World Cup.

2021 FIFA Club World Cup

FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 presented by Alibaba كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم الإمارات العربية المتحدة 2021
Tournament details
Host country	United Arab Emirates
City	Abu Dhabi
Dates	3–12 February 2022
Teams	7 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Chelsea (1st title)
Runners-up	Palmeiras
Third place	Al Ahly
Fourth place	Al-Hilal
Tournament statistics
Matches played	8
Goals scored	27 (3.38 per match)
Attendance	100,752 (12,594 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea) Raphael Veiga (Palmeiras) Yasser Ibrahim (Al Ahly) Abdoulay Diaby (Al-Jazira) 2 goals each
Best player(s)	Thiago Silva (Chelsea)
Fair play award	Chelsea
← 2020 2022 →

The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 presented by Alibaba for sponsorship reasons) was the 18th 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. The tournament was held from 3 to 12 February 2022 in the United Arab Emirates. ^[1]

Defending champions Bayern Munich did not qualify as they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League. The eventual winners of that competition, Chelsea, won the Club World Cup for the first time, beating Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia 1–0 in the semi-finals before requiring extra time to claim a 2–1 win over Brazilian side Palmeiras in the final.

Host appointment

An expanded Club World Cup in China was planned to be held in June and July 2021. ^{[2] [3]} However, due to fixture congestion caused by the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on football, the Tokyo Olympics, UEFA European Championship and Copa América were postponed from mid-2020 to mid-2021. As a result, FIFA announced in March 2020 that they would postpone the expanded Club World Cup to later in 2021, 2022 or 2023, ^{[4] [5]} before cancelling it entirely. ^[6]

On 4 December 2020, the FIFA Council announced that the Club World Cup, using the previous format, would be held in late 2021 and hosted by Japan. ^[7] However, on 8 September 2021, the Japan Football Association dropped its commitment to host the tournament, owing to the possibility of restrictions on fan attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. ^{[8] [9]} Numerous countries expressed interest in hosting the tournament as bidding was reopened, including Brazil, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. ^{[10] [11] [12] [13]} On 20 October 2021, the FIFA Council named the United Arab Emirates as the host of the tournament, and postponed the event from late 2021 to early 2022. ^[14]

Qualified teams

Palmeiras

Chelsea

Al-Hilal

Al Ahly

Monterrey

AS Pirae

Al-Jazira

class=notpageimage|

Location of the teams participating in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup

Team	Confederation	Qualification	Qualified date	Participation
Entering in the semi-finals
Palmeiras	CONMEBOL	Winners of the 2021 Copa Libertadores	27 November 2021	2nd (Previous: 2020)
Chelsea	UEFA	Winners of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League	29 May 2021	2nd (Previous: 2012)
Entering in the second round
Al-Hilal	AFC	Winners of the 2021 AFC Champions League	23 November 2021	2nd (Previous: 2019)
Al Ahly	CAF	Winners of the 2020–21 CAF Champions League	17 July 2021	7th (Previous: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020)
Monterrey	CONCACAF	Winners of the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League	28 October 2021	5th (Previous: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019)
Entering in the first round
AS Pirae	OFC	Nominated by OFC [note 1]	31 December 2021	1st
Al-Jazira	AFC (host)	Winners of the 2020–21 UAE Pro League	20 October 2021 [note 2]	2nd (Previous: 2017)

Notes

1. On 4 June 2021, the OFC announced that the 2021 OFC Champions League had been cancelled due to border closures throughout the Pacific caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and no champions would be awarded. ^[15] The OFC representative at the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup, which would have originally been the winners of the 2021 OFC Champions League, was confirmed to be Auckland City by the OFC on 3 August 2021. The team was chosen by the OFC Executive Committee based on sporting merit principles, which used an overall ranking which took into consideration the final placing of each OFC Champions League between 2016 and 2020, and applied to the clubs nominated by their member association to qualify for the 2021 OFC Champions League. ^[16] On 31 December 2021, Auckland City withdrew from the competition due to delayed reopening of the borders in New Zealand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the reintroduction of the mandatory managed isolation and quarantine system upon returning to the country. As a result, AS Pirae were nominated as the OFC's representative in their place. ^[17]
2. Al-Jazira won the 2020–21 UAE Pro League on 11 May 2021, and on 16 October 2021 Al-Wahda became the last team from the United Arab Emirates to be eliminated from the 2021 AFC Champions League. However, Al-Jazira's participation was not confirmed until the United Arab Emirates were appointed as tournament hosts on 20 October 2021.

Venues

The matches were played at two venues in the city of Abu Dhabi, both of which hosted matches at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Abu Dhabi	Abu Dhabi
	Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium	Al Nahyan Stadium
	Capacity: 37,500	Capacity: 15,000

Match officials

Five referees, ten assistant referees, and seven video assistant referees were appointed for the tournament. ^{[18] [19]}

Confederation	Referees	Assistant referees	Video assistant referees
AFC	Chris Beath	Anton Shchetinin Ashley Beecham	Ammar Al-Jeneibi
CAF	Mustapha Ghorbal	Mokrane Gourari Abdelhak Etchiali
CONCACAF	César Ramos	Alberto Morin Miguel Hernández	Drew Fischer
CONMEBOL	Fernando Rapallini	Juan Pablo Belatti Diego Bonfá	Nicolás Gallo Mauro Vigliano
UEFA	Clément Turpin	Nicolas Danos Cyril Gringore	Willy Delajod Massimiliano Irrati Pol van Boekel

One support referee was also named for the tournament.

Confederation	Support referee
OFC	David Yareboinen

Semi-automated offside technology was tested during the tournament. ^[20]

Squads

Main article: 2021 FIFA Club World Cup squads

Each team named a 23-man squad (three of whom had to be goalkeepers). Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match. ^[21]

Matches

The draw of the tournament was held on 29 November 2021, 17:00 CET (UTC+1), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, 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 (against teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA). ^[22]

If a match was tied after normal playing time: ^[21]

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

First round

Second round

Semi-finals

Final

6 February – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

3 February – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

Al-Hilal

6

9 February – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

Al-Jazira

4

Al-Jazira

1

Al-Hilal

0

AS Pirae

1

Chelsea

1

12 February – Abu Dhabi (MBZ)

Chelsea (a.e.t.)

2

8 February – Abu Dhabi (Nahyan)

Palmeiras

1

5 February – Abu Dhabi (Nahyan)

Palmeiras

2

Al Ahly

1

Al Ahly

0

Monterrey

0

Match for fifth place

Match for third place

9 February – Abu Dhabi (Nahyan)

12 February – Abu Dhabi (Nahyan)

Monterrey

3

Al-Hilal

0

Al-Jazira

1

Al Ahly

4

All times are local, GST (UTC+4). ^[23]

First round

3 February 2022 (2022-02-03)

20:30

Al-Jazira	4–1	AS Pirae
Al-Ameri 5' A. Al-Attas 25' Kosanović 41' Diaby 63'	Report	Rabii 48' (o.g.)

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 4,970 ^[24]

Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Second round

5 February 2022 (2022-02-05)

20:30

Al Ahly	1–0	Monterrey
Hany 53'	Report

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 9,396 ^[25]

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

---

6 February 2022 (2022-02-06)

20:30

Al-Hilal	6–1	Al-Jazira
Ighalo 36' Pereira 40' Kanno 57' Al-Dawsari 77' Marega 88' Carrillo 90+2' (pen.)	Report	Diaby 14'

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 12,538 ^[26]

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Semi-finals

8 February 2022 (2022-02-08)

20:30

Palmeiras	2–0	Al Ahly
Veiga 39' Dudu 49'	Report

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 11,902 ^[27]

Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

---

9 February 2022 (2022-02-09)

20:30

Al-Hilal	0–1	Chelsea
	Report	Lukaku 32'

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 19,175 ^[28]

Referee: César Ramos (Mexico)

Match for fifth place

9 February 2022 (2022-02-09)

17:30

Monterrey	3–1	Al-Jazira
Sultan 4' (o.g.) Funes Mori 11' Montes 25'	Report	Bruno 90+1'

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 892 ^[29]

Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Match for third place

12 February 2022 (2022-02-12)

17:00

Al-Hilal	0–4	Al Ahly
	Report	Ibrahim 8', 17' Abdel Kader 40' El Solia 64'

Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 9,008 ^[30]

Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

Final

Main article: 2021 FIFA Club World Cup Final

12 February 2022 (2022-02-12)

20:30

Chelsea	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Palmeiras
Lukaku 54' Havertz 117' (pen.)	Report	Veiga 64' (pen.)

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 32,871 ^[31]

Referee: Chris Beath (Australia)

Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Abdoulay Diaby	Al-Jazira	2
	Yasser Ibrahim	Al Ahly
	Romelu Lukaku	Chelsea
	Raphael Veiga	Palmeiras
5	Ahmed Abdel Kader	Al Ahly	1
	Zayed Al-Ameri	Al-Jazira
	Ahmed Al-Attas	Al-Jazira
	Salem Al-Dawsari	Al-Hilal
	Bruno	Al-Jazira
	André Carrillo	Al-Hilal
	Dudu	Palmeiras
	Amr El Solia	Al Ahly
	Rogelio Funes Mori	Monterrey
	Mohamed Hany	Al Ahly
	Kai Havertz	Chelsea
	Odion Ighalo	Al-Hilal
	Mohamed Kanno	Al-Hilal
	Miloš Kosanović	Al-Jazira
	Moussa Marega	Al-Hilal
	César Montes	Monterrey
	Matheus Pereira	Al-Hilal

1 own goal

• Mohammed Rabii (Al-Jazira, against AS Pirae)
• Zayed Sultan (Al-Jazira, against Monterrey)

Awards

See also: FIFA Club World Cup awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. Thiago Silva of Chelsea won the Golden Ball award, sponsored by Adidas, which is jointly awarded with the Alibaba Cloud Award to recognise the player of the tournament. ^[32]

Adidas Golden Ball Alibaba Cloud Award	Adidas Silver Ball	Adidas Bronze Ball
Thiago Silva (Chelsea)	Dudu (Palmeiras)	Danilo (Palmeiras)
FIFA Fair Play Award
Chelsea

FIFA also named a man of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament.

Alibaba Cloud Match Award

Match	Man of the match	Club	Opponent	Ref.
1	Mohammed Jamal	Al-Jazira	AS Pirae	[33]
2	Ramy Rabia	Al Ahly	Monterrey	[34]
3	Matheus Pereira	Al-Hilal	Al-Jazira	[35]
4	Raphael Veiga	Palmeiras	Al Ahly	[36]
5	Maximiliano Meza	Monterrey	Al-Jazira	[37]
6	Mateo Kovačić	Chelsea	Al-Hilal	[37]
7	Yasser Ibrahim	Al Ahly	Al-Hilal	[38]
8	Antonio Rüdiger	Chelsea	Palmeiras	[38]

References

1. "Update on FIFA Club World Cup and OFC preliminary competition for Qatar 2022". FIFA. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
2. Harris, Rob (13 March 2019). "FIFA wants 24-team Club World Cup in 2021". APNews.com. Associated Press . Retrieved 16 March 2019.
3. "FIFA Council unanimously appoints China PR as hosts of new Club World Cup in 2021". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
4. "Statement from the FIFA President". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
5. "Bureau of the FIFA Council decisions concerning impact of COVID-19". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
6. Olley, James (16 December 2022). "FIFA to launch new Club World Cup format with 32 teams in 2025". ESPN . Retrieved 16 December 2022.
7. "FIFA Council passes landmark reforms for female players and coaches, agrees further steps in COVID-19 response". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
8. "Update on FIFA Club World Cup 2021". FIFA. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
9. hermesauto (8 September 2021). "Asian Youth Games in China postponed to 2022 owing to virus; Japan drops 2021 Club World Cup". The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
10. Ogden, Mark (2 October 2021). "FIFA Club World Cup: South Africa to rival Qatar, UAE as potential hosts - sources". ESPN . Retrieved 20 October 2021.
11. "Rio deve ser candidato a sede do Mundial de Clubes de 2021, diz secretário: 'Estamos nos movimentando'" [Rio should be a candidate to host the 2021 Club World Cup, says secretary: 'We are moving']. Globo (in Portuguese). 16 September 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
12. "إحداها مصر.. 3 دول إفريقية مرشحة لاستضافة مونديال الأندية" [One of them is Egypt.. 3 African countries are candidates to host the Club World Cup]. winwin.com (in Arabic). 13 September 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
13. "خاص.. المغرب يكشف موقفه من استضافة مونديال الأندية 2021" [Special.. Morocco reveals its position on hosting the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup]. winwin.com (in Arabic). 15 September 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
14. "FIFA Council endorses global summit to discuss the future of football". FIFA . 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
15. "OFC competitions calendar rescheduled". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 June 2021.
16. "Auckland City nominated for the FIFA Club World Cup 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 August 2021.
17. "FIFA statement on OFC representative at the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 31 December 2021.
18. "Match officials for the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 appointed". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
19. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 – List of Appointed Match Officials" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
20. "Semi-automated offside tech aids referees and fans at FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 9 February 2022.
21. "Regulations FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021" (PDF). FIFA. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
22. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021 draw to take place on 29 November". FIFA. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
23. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021: Match schedule" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
24. "Al-Jazira vs. AS Pirae". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
25. "Al Ahly vs. Monterrey". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 February 2022. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
26. "Al-Hilal vs. Al-Jazira". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 February 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
27. "Palmeiras vs. Al Ahly". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 8 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
28. "Al-Hilal vs. Chelsea". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 10 February 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
29. "Monterrey vs. Al-Jazira". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
30. "Al-Hilal vs. Al Ahly". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
31. "Chelsea vs. Palmeiras". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
32. "Thiago Silva wins adidas Golden Ball as best player of UAE 2021". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
33. "Wonder goals help Al Jazira cruise through". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
34. "Hany gem books Ahly semi with Palmeiras". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
35. "Record-breaking Al Hilal set up Chelsea semi". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
36. "Veiga, Dudu propel Palmeiras into final". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
37. "Lukaku fires Chelsea to the final". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
38. "Havertz the hero as Chelsea conquer the world". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.

External links

• Official website