The FIFA Intercontinental Cup is a planned annual international men's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (

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 ...

), the sport's global

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

. The first edition is scheduled to take place in

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

. The competition will feature the club champions of the six confederations of FIFA, and will be played as a

knockout tournament A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking ...

with the European team receiving a bye to the final.

History

On 16 December 2022, the

FIFA Council The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...

approved the expansion 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 ...

from seven to thirty-two teams beginning in

2025 Predicted and scheduled events *January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1929 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** The American FAA will have been imp ...

. The 2023 tournament was therefore the last played under the previous format. However, confederations expressed to FIFA the need for the champions of their top club competitions to still play each other annually to "stimulate competitiveness". Therefore, on 14 March 2023, the FIFA Council approved a concept for an annual club competition beginning in 2024, later named as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup. It will feature the champions of the top club competitions of the six confederations of FIFA, namely the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Americ ...

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 ...

OFC Champions League The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club soccer competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been ...

and

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 ...

. The inaugural edition of the tournament is scheduled to take place in December 2024.

Format

The competition will feature a series of intercontinental play-offs between clubs from all confederations except UEFA, whose club will receive a bye to the final, with the OFC Champions League winner facing off against either the AFC or CAF Champions League winner in the first play-off round (alternating by year), while the second play-off round consisting of the winner of the first matchup facing the remaining AFC or CAF champion and a matchup between the winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Copa Libertadores. The play-off final between the AFC/CAF/OFC representative and the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL representative and the final between the winners of the play-offs and the UEFA Champions League winners will take place at a neutral venue, with the winning club crowned champions of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Intercontinental cup FIFA club competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2023