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Missing champions Palmeiras left out of FIFA Club World Championship
Posted: Tuesday January 04, 2000 03:26 PM
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) -- South American champions Palmeiras will be conspicuous by their absence when FIFA'S inaugural Club World Championship kicks off on Wednesday. The controversial cup has strayed so far from its original ideal that it now bears almost no relation to what its clumsy official name suggests. Some continental champions are missing while other teams with less impressive credentials are taking part. Neither of the two clubs who will kick off the tournament, Real Madrid and Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr, are currently champions of their respective continents. Wednesday's double bill of matches in the Morumbi stadium will also feature Brazilian side Corinthians, which has never won a quarterfinal stage of a continental tournament in its history. They play African champions Raja Casablanca, the only legitimate participants to take the field on Wednesday. Logic suggests a tournament set up to find the best club side in the world would feature simply the respective champions of FIFA's six continents -- Europe, North and Central America, South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. A quick look at the lineup, which features eight sides, quickly dispels that idea. Amid general bewilderment FIFA decided to allocate Real Madrid a place because it won the Inter Continental Cup match in Tokyo in 1998. Then they extended the invitation list by allowing host nation Brazil to pick a team. Corinthians, winner of the 1998 Brazilian championship but a complete failure at international level, was the lucky side. The issue was further complicated when FIFA allowed the respective continental confederations to decide which clubs would take part. Europe, North and Central America, Africa and Oceania did the logical thing by sending current champions Manchester United (England), Necaxa (Mexico), Raja Casablanca (Morocco) and South Melbourne (Australia) respectively. But South America gave its place to Vasco da Gama, which won the Libertadores Cup in August 1998. Asia opted for the 1998 winner of its Supercup -- an annual playoff between the winners of that continent's champions and cup winners' cups. Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr came up trumps while Jublio Iwata, winner of this year's Asia Champions' Cup, will share Palmeiras's role as disgruntled spectators. Vasco is the team taking the tournament the most seriously. Its new players include former Brazil internationals Romario, Junior Baiano and Jorginho as well as midfielder Valber and defender Alexandre Torres, signed from Japan's Nagoya Grampus Eight. Torres arrived in Rio from his old club on Monday just three days before his new club's match against South Melbourne.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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