The 2021 FIFA Club World Cup Final was the final match of the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup, an international club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament hosted by United Arab Emirates. It was the 18th final of the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

, a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-organised tournament between the club champions from each of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions. The final was contested by English club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, representing

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

as the reigning champions of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, and Brazilian club

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

, representing

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

as the reigning champions of the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

. The match was played at the

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium Al-Jazira Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium ( ar, ستاد محمد بن زايد) is a multi-purpose stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is currently used mostly for football and cricket matches and is the home ground of Al Jazira Club. It i ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

on 12 February 2022. The tournament was originally planned to take place in late 2021 in Japan, but was moved to February 2022 in the United Arab Emirates due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Chelsea won the match 2–1 after extra time for their first FIFA Club World Cup title.

Teams

''In the following table, finals until 2005 were in the FIFA Club World Championship era, since 2006 were in the FIFA Club World Cup era.'' Note: On 27 October 2017,

officially recognised all the champions of the Intercontinental Cup as club world champions, in equal status to the FIFA Club World Cup. *IC: Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004) *FCWC:

FIFA Club World Cup finals FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was founded ...

(2000, 2005–present)

Background

reached their second FIFA Club World Cup Final in two appearances, having done so previously in

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, which they lost to

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

. Chelsea were looking to win their second title of the season, after the 2021 UEFA Super Cup.

were competing in the FIFA Club World Cup for the second consecutive time, having finished fourth in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. They reached the final for the first time after defeating

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

, who had previously defeated them in the third place playoff in 2020. This was the fourth FIFA Club World Cup Final to be played between English and Brazilian clubs, after

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

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, with only the latter being won by the English club.

Route to the final

Chelsea

Chelsea qualified for the tournament as the champions of the

, having defeated fellow English club

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Due to their participation in the Club World Cup, two of their

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

fixtures were rescheduled. As European champions, Chelsea received a bye to the semi-finals, where they faced

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

champions Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia. The Blues won the match 1–0;

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, on loan from club Chelsea, and the Belgium national team. Lukaku began his senior club career playing for Ander ...

scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute.

Palmeiras

Palmeiras entered the tournament as the winners of the

, defeating another Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

in the

, which took place a few days before the draw for the Club World Cup. Palmeiras too entered the Club World Cup in the semi-finals stage, where they played

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

champions

of Egypt. Palmeiras won the match 2–0 with goals from

Raphael Veiga Raphael Cavalcante Veiga (born 19 June 1995), known as Raphael Veiga, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Palmeiras as an attacking midfielder. Club career Born in São Paulo, Veiga represented Portuguesa and Pão de Açúcar as a youth be ...

and Dudu, their first goals in the Club World Cup.

Match

Details

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa Club World Cup Final 2021

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

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Chelsea F.C. matches Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras matches 2021–22 in English football 2022 in Brazilian football 2021–22 in Emirati football Sports competitions in Abu Dhabi 21st century in Abu Dhabi