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Reactions Users sound off on the Club World Championship
Posted: Sunday January 09, 2000 04:33 PM
We asked users if they believed there is room on the international soccer calendar for the FIFA Club World Championship, and what their level of interest was. Below is an initial selection of the responses. Of course the FIFA CWC is interesting, because this is a way to put great teams face to face. Imagine the great teams of S. America: Flamengo, Boca Jrs., Corinthians, River Plate, Penarol, Santos, Velez S., Colo-Colo, Vasco da Gama, etc... in front of: Barcelona, Milan, Ajax, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayer L., PSV, Inter Milan etc... and this is a chance to the others teams around the world to prove if they are growing up or not. And who wins the FIFA CWC will be the true champion of the world, totally different from the game in Tokyo, because only one game doesn't define anything. That's my opinion.
FIFA should strive towards synchronization of the competitions. That means that all teams should be playing in their domestic league and their national cup at roughly the same time. As it stands now, countries within the same continent play their competitions at different times in the year. For example, Scandinavian teams play in the summer, while teams from Western and Southern Europe play in winter. This not only makes it hard to organize international events, but also results in an unfair balance. In the current situation, the European Championships are organized after a full season for some European teams, while others are not even halfway through. Similarly, the Champions League runs through the break between seasons for the Northern European teams. By synchronizing all the leagues, this is eliminated and it will also free up time to organize large international events such as the World Club Championship. Furthermore, I think FIFA should encourage if not force the national football associations to keep the number of teams in the league down to 16 or maybe 18 and allow for only one cup competition. This will relieve the top clubs as they will play fewer games, which will result in fewer injuries for top players and thus raise the general level of the game. The current situation in England, where Man United is ridiculously not defending its FA cup crown is a case in point. Please FIFA do something about the number of games and synchronize domestic football worldwide; it will result in greater transparency and a higher level and appreciation of the game.
I think this tournament has potential, but not at the way FIFA goes at it currently. For one thing, we might even say that there already has been some sort of world club tournament with the cup that Man U won in Japan, among other yearly mini-tournaments with teams competing in it from various continents. I think that first, these tournaments should be eliminated from the calendar, because in my opinion they are a waste of time if there is already a tournament like the World Club Championship... If these Mickey Mouse tournaments are eliminated, and more fanfare is created for the World Club Championship, I think that might create some positive results... Also, I think that they should make it a 12-team event divided into 3 groups that includes not only the champion of the European Cup from Europe, but also the UEFA Cup champion... I also think that FIFA should not make the mistake of letting a team that did not even win the tournament they were supposed to win in 1999, rather in 1998, get into the tournament... Why not let DC United in the tournament then for winning the Inter American Cup a while back!... Finally, the whole point of this, should this tournament be kept? Yes, indeed!!! I think that in summary it just should be organized better, should include more teams, should be based on recent results, and should be made the high point of club football on a worldwide level!
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