The Confederations Cup is a relatively new tournament, with FIFA taking over from 1997 before which it was simply known as the King Fahd Cup. The brainchild of the late Saudi Prince Faisal ibn Fahd, the competition began in 1992 as a four-team tournament which were Saudi Arabia, the 1988 Asian Cup Winners, Argentina, the 1991 Copa America winners, 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners USA and, Ivory Coast, who were the victors 1992 African Nations Cup.
Argentina won the tournament that year, beating the Saudis in front of their own fans but they lost in 1995, to Denmark, who were the 1992 Euro winners.
After FIFA took over, it became known as the Confederations Cup and was staged every two years, with Brazil and France (won twice each) and Mexico coming out victorious. From 2005 onwards, FIFA announced that the tournament would be held every four years, one year before the FIFA World Cup in the host country of the World Cup.
Since it’s existence, the champions of the six biggest continental tournaments qualify for the Confederations Cup, which are the Copa America, the OFC Nations Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, UEFA Euros, the Africa Cup of Nations and the AFC Asian Cup. The World Cup champion and the host nation qualify automatically, however, if the World Cup winner is also the winner of one of the above tournaments, then the runner-up of that tournament will qualify as well.
The 2017 tournament sees both Russia and Germany qualify automatically, as the Russians are the hosts for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which makes them the host for the Confederations Cup, while Germany is the current FIFA World Cup winners.
The other contenders are Australia as the AFC Asian Cup winners, Chile as the Copa America winners, Mexico who beat USA in the 2015 CONCACAF Cup play-off, New-Zealand as the OFC Nations Cup, Portugal as the 2016 Euro winners and finally Cameroon as the Africa Cup of Nations. This makes this year’s tournament a very exciting one and it also gives fans something to look forward to with the upcoming World Cup less than a year away.
Here are five reasons to look forward to the Confederations Cup.
#5 Group of Death
The most popular feature of any tournament other than the allure of the tournament itself is the group of death. While the term sounds like it was made up by a child, it was actually coined by Mexican journalists when they described the 1970 World Cup’s group 3. The group contained the defending champions England, the favourites Brazil, two-time finalists Czechoslovakia and Romania. Since then, however, the phrase has been overused and misused many times over the years.
In the Confederations Cup 2017 however, Group A, which consists of Russia, Portugal, Mexico and New Zealand, could potentially turn out to be a very interesting group indeed. With Portugal being the top pick to finish the group at number one, while both Mexico and Russia could end up fighting for second place, no one has given New Zealand a chance despite them having won the OFC Nations Cup a record 5 times.
The last group of death was in the World Cup 2014 which consisted of England, Uruguay, Italy and Costa Rica with both Italy and England knocked out, and Costa Rica being the surprise entry into the round of 16. So you never know, New Zealand could go on to even win the Confederations Cup for the first time ever.
#4 Eight teams mean a chance to watch World Class talent
While World Cups, Euros and even Copa America take nearly a month from start to finish, the Confederations Cup has a much shorter duration with it getting over within three weeks, despite the fact that there are no conflicting matches. Fans will be able to watch every single match if they wish to, including the final which takes place on the 2nd of July in Saint Petersburg at the Krestovsky Stadium, also known as the Zenit Stadium.
With normal football season ending less than a month before the competition, international managers will have to make sure that their teams are fit and ready for their upcoming challenge. Given the kind of talent on show during the Confederations Cup, fans would love to watch players from all over the world make an impact on the world stage, especially with players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and more star players.
Only eight teams in contention means that fans have the option to watch their favourite players and a few wildcards instead of picking and choosing which game or team to focus on.
#3 Dramatic moments
Every major tournament has something extra to give the audience, whether it was Iceland beating England and qualifying for the first time to the quarter finals, or Mario Gotze coming on to score in the dying minutes of the game vs Argentina to give Germany the lead and so much more. Despite being a young tournament, the Confederations Cup has had its dramatic moments, ever since it’s conception in 1997.
Back in 1997, the Brazilan team with players like Dida, Cafu, Ronaldo and even Romario put on a show of incredible football as they beat a helpless Australia 6-0 with both Ronaldo and Romario scoring hat-tricks.
Two years later, however, and the same team were thwarted by a resilient Mexican team who refused to be beaten in a 4-3 thriller in front of their home fans. The star of that year's Confederation Cup, however, was a 19-year-old attacking winger named Ronaldinho, who finished the tournament with 6 goals and the Golden ball winner.
The 2005 final was also an excellent affair as Brazil brushed aside arch rivals Argentina with a scintillating 4-1 win, with goals from Kaka, Ronaldinho and two goals from Adriano. They have gone on to win the next two Confederation Cups with wins against the USA in 2009 and Spain in 2013. This year, however, they failed to qualify for the first time since 1995, after they were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Copa America by Paraguay and in the semi-final of the World Cup by Germany.
#2 Preview of the World Cup
With the World Cup fast approaching and just a year away, the Confederations Cup is an important tournament for teams to get their players clicking together and ready before the World Cup. Italy in 2009 used the tournament as a post-season entertainment and ended up losing to both Egypt and Brazil, which set the tone for their World Cup performance, where they were eliminated in the group stages itself.
For Germany, this tournament will be crucial for their future tournament chances but they have tough competition with the likes of Portugal, Chile and even Mexico. It showcases the top teams from all over FIFA’s six confederation competitions and will allow Russia to fine-tune their hosting skills.
The three weeks during the tournament will be a dry run of sorts for the upcoming 2018 World Cup. Back in 2009, it allowed South Africa to see how well the state of their media, transportation, ticket sales and even their marketing campaign was before the World Cup actually started. It allowed them to fine tune, any mistakes what so ever before the start of the World Cup and will also afford Russia the same opportunities.
#1 The Confederations Cup comes of age
There was a time where teams really didn’t want to participate in the Confederations Cup, as Germany declined invitations three times for the tournament before finally qualifying for 2005, for which they only qualified because they were the host nation. As did 1998 world champions, France, who did not take part in the tournament in 1999.
In theory, at least, the Confederation Cup was considered as the third cousin of the World Cup, the Euros and even the Copa America. The matches were considered by critics as nothing more than jumped up exhibition matches - a mere starter to the World Cup’s main course and no one cared who won or lost. Last time, however, something seemed to click. Maybe it was Brazil that did the trick, the world stage of football but despite all it's problems, the host country somehow managed to take the tournament to another level.
Fans were cheering from their hearts and had even adopted teams such as Tahiti, Italy and even Japan as their own teams. They managed to create an atmosphere that rivalled the FIFA World Cup and also more than made up for the lack of travelling supporters.
The outcome for the neutrals, at least, was first class entertainment and Brazil 2013 served us some incredible games, from the Japan 4-3 Italy, the Nigeria 1-2 Uruguay and even the Spain vs Italy semi-finals. If Russia 2017 can pick up from where the last one left off, it would make it the tournament to watch.
