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The FIFA Club World Cup is a fairly new tournament. The annual competition, which started in 2000, pits the best clubs from six continents against one another.
Under the current format, the competition features the national champions of the host country and the six continental winners from Asia (AFC Champions League), Africa (CAF Champions League), Europe (UEFA Champions League), Oceania (OFC Champions League), CONMEBOL (Copa Libertadores) and CONCACAF (CONCACAF Champions League).
The seven participants compete against each other in a knockout format. The host country's national champions square off against the Oceania champions in a playoff to join the champions of Asia, Africa and North America in the knockouts. The two winners progress to the semis, where they take on the European and CONMEBOL champions. A one-legged final decides the winner.
Unsurprisingly, the FIFA Club World Cup has only been won by clubs from UEFA and CONMEBOL zones. Clubs from Europe have won 13 of the competition's 17 editions.
Many world-class players, especially goalscorers, have graced the competition over the years. On that note, here's a look at the top five goalscorers in FIFA Club World Cup history:
#5 Cesar Delgado - 5 goals
Cesar Delgado had a modest career in club football, scoring 72 goals for five different clubs. The 2007-08 Ligue 1 winner (with Olympique Lyon) netted 27 times for Mexican side CF Monterrey.
Five of these strikes came at the FIFA Club World Cup, across two different editions of the competition. Delgado did not score on his competition debut in the 2011-12 season.
The 40-year-old is a two-time CONCACAF Champions League winner with Monterrey, scoring once and assisting five times in ten games.
#4 Lionel Messi (three-time FIFA Club World Cup winner) - 5 goals
Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the game.
Now at PSG, the Barcelona and Argentina legend has won the FIFA Club World Cup three times - all with the Blaugrana. Interestingly, he scored in the final on all three occasions, with his only other goal in the competition coming in the semis (2009).
The 34-year-old is the only player to win two FIFA Club World Cup Golden Balls and the Final MVP award twice.
However, Messi hasn't graced the competition since 2015.
#3 Luis Suarez (2015 FIFA Club World Cup winner) - 5 goals
Luis Suarez won his lone FIFA Club World Cup title with Barcelona in 2015. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific active strikers in the game, the 35-year-old enjoyed a hugely successful six-season stint with the Blaugrana.
Suarez scored nearly 200 goals for the club, with five of those strikes coming in the Club World Cup. Interestingly, all five goals came in his lone appearance in the competition in 2015. He scored a hat-trick against Guangzhou Evergrande in the semis before netting a brace against River Plate in the final.
That meant Suarez scored in the final of all five major competitions for Barcelona, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Supercopa and Copa del Rey.
Now at Atletico Madrid, Suarez (28) recently became the most prolific South American scorer in FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
#2 Gareth Bale (four-time winner) - 6 goals
Gareth Bale has had an injury-plagued career with Real Madrid. However, there's no denying that when on song, the Welshman is one of the best in the game.
Since arriving at the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 2013, Bale has appeared in over 250 games across competitions, scoring 105 goals. Six of these strikes have come at the FIFA Club World Cup, including one in the 2014 final against San Lorenzo.
Bale has won the Club World Cup four times. In his last appearance in the tournament in 2018, the 32-year-old scored all three goals in Real Madrid's 3-1 semi-final win over Kashima Antlers. Los Blancos beat Al Ein 4-1 in the final to win the competition for the fourth time in five years.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (four-time winner) - 7 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo, like Messi, is widely regarded as one of the best players to have graced the beautiful game.
The 36-year-old recently scored his 800th goal for club and country. Seven of these strikes have come at the Club World Cup, the most by any player in competition history. All but six of these goals have come with Real Madrid.
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Kashima Antlers in the 2016 final as Los Blancos won the Club World Cup for the second time in three years.
A year later, Ronaldo scored the lone goal in the final against Gremio as Real Madrid became the first team to successfully defend their title. In the process, Los Blancos joined arch-rivals Barcelona with three Club World Cup titles.
In 2018, Real Madrid would complete an unprecedented three-peat to become the most successful team in competition history. Exactly a decade ago, Ronaldo had won his first title in the competition, with Manchester United.
