5 Ways to have a "PROPER" FIFA Club World Cup

Shouldn't it have a greater value??

“The FIFA Club World Cup“- sounds such an ominous name itself . The two words “World Cup” itself gives a fan a sudden adrenaline rush . Your mind invariably begins to ponder upon the belief that its “THE” greatest showpiece in the world. The ultimate stage where every player and fans wishes to taste the epitome of success. The grandest stage of all!

However, since its inauguration in the year of 2000, it has simply been a “burden competition” for all teams. Teams tend to participate just for the formalities and rarely does it grab any headlines. Now, this is where i believe, the problem lies. Why do you organize a tournament which does not have any credibility and only manages to disgrace the very words “World Cup”? Either you just scarp off the tournament once and for all or give it the much needed “X-factor” by which it can gain the importance that a World Cup should get. Being a football fanatic myself, i would rather prefer the latter than the former.

Now, Football is one of those very few sports where the club and domestic level competitions are given almost the same importance as the International competitions. So, there is absolutely no reason why a club world cup cannot be counted on the same field as the FIFA World Cup. There are certain issues, which i believe, must be looked upon in order to make this tournament more glamorous and more important.

• The very qualification method looks so insane. Every edition of the FIFA Club World Cup features the continental champions and the Champion of the host nation. Now, with all due respect to the teams, do you seriously think that a team like Gamba Osaka can fight it out with a team of the standard of say Barcelona or Sao Paulo? Not only does this qualification method makes each and every match of the tournament a “David meets Goliath” issue, but also makes the outcome of the tournament to be ever so predictable. As a result the tournament becomes rather boring and neither does it grab any eyeballs. Now, FIFA has to have a proper and organized ranking system for the clubs based on their recent performances over a considerable period of time. So, taking a cue from the original FIFA World Cup, the tournament should feature the top teams from each and every continent with the number of teams from a continent to be decided based upon the standard of football played in that very continent. Since, organizing a qualifying tournament will cause a lot of haste and scheduling problems, the ranking system seems to be the only suitable and likely way to ascertain the top teams.

• It should be held on a four year basis just like all other major competitions rather than the ‘every year format’ that is being held now. It helps to build a sense of anticipation and interest among the fans and thus will enhance its popularity.

• Now, with an advent of a big tournament such as this, one thing that bothers everybody is the burn-out factor. However, proffesional players should not have a problem to adapt to it. Easier said than done though. Cutting down of unnecessary tournaments such as European Super Cup or unifying the different domestic cup competitions into one might help.
  

  Will burn-out be an issue???

• Better marketing by FIFA to increase the popularity. Taking a leaf out of Indian Premier League’s book might help. After all, FIFA themselves organizes the greatest event of all THE “FIFA World Cup”.
  

  Take a leaf out of IPL

• A tournament such as this one, may well act as a platform to unearth budding talents of football. Not everyone makes it to the National Team and leave alone to the FIFA WORLD CUP. But when you are organizing such a tournament at the very club level, it opens up the door for all. Just like the IPL was for cricket. Hence, another reason for the footballing fraternity to take this event more seriously.

However, again it must be kept in mind that organizing such an event may involve lot of minute technicalities which a fan may be unaware of.

This article is plainly from a fan’s perspective and just how I feel about it. Would love to hear from other fellow football fans as well and what do they think of it. Cheers!!