| FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 presented by Alibaba Cloud كأس العالم للأندية لكرة القدم الإمارات العربية المتحدة 2018 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | United Arab Emirates |
| Dates | 12–22 December |
| Teams | 7 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue | 2 (in 2 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Real Madrid (4th title) |
| Runners-up |  Al Ain |
| Third place |  River Plate |
| Fourth place |  Kashima Antlers |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 8 |
| Goals scored | 33 (4.13 per match) |
| Attendance | 152,675 (19,084 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Gareth Bale Rafael Santos Borré(3 goals each) |
| Best player | Gareth Bale |
| Fair play award | Real Madrid |
←2017 2019 → | |
The2018 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as theFIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 15th edition of theFIFA Club World Cup, aFIFA-organised international clubfootball tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions.[2] The tournament was hosted by theUnited Arab Emirates from 12 to 22 December 2018.[3][4]
Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won the previous two editions, and qualified for the 2018 edition as well. They successfully defended their title (their third consecutive) after defeatingAl Ain 4–1 in thefinal. With the win, they broke the tie with their club rivalsBarcelona to become the outright record winners of the competition.
The application process for the 2017–2018 as well as the 2015–2016 editions, i.e. two hosts, each hosting two years, began in February 2014.[5] Member associations interested in hosting must submit a declaration of interest by 30 March 2014, and provide the complete set of bidding documents by 25 August 2014.[6] TheFIFA Executive Committee was to select the hosts at their meeting inMorocco in December 2014,[7] but the final decision was delayed until the FIFA Executive Committee meetings on 19–20 March 2015.[8]
The following countries expressed an interest in bidding to host the tournament:[9]
TheFIFA Executive Committee officially confirmed the United Arab Emirates as hosts of the2017 and 2018 tournaments on 20 March 2015 during their meeting inZürich, Switzerland.[3]
The following teams qualified for the tournament.
| Team | Confederation | Qualification | Qualified date | Participation (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entering in thesemi-finals | ||||
| River Plate | CONMEBOL | Winners of the2018 Copa Libertadores[10] | 9 December 2018[note 1] | 2nd(Previous:2015) |
| Real MadridTH | UEFA | Winners of the2017–18 UEFA Champions League[11] | 26 May 2018 | 5th(Previous:2000,2014,2016,2017) |
| Entering in thesecond round | ||||
| Kashima Antlers | AFC | Winners of the2018 AFC Champions League[12] | 10 November 2018 | 2nd(Previous:2016) |
 Espérance de Tunis | CAF | Winners of the2018 CAF Champions League[13] | 9 November 2018 | 2nd(Previous:2011) |
 Guadalajara | CONCACAF | Winners of the2018 CONCACAF Champions League[14] | 25 April 2018 | Debut |
| Entering in thefirst round | ||||
 Team Wellington | OFC | Winners of the2018 OFC Champions League[15] | 20 May 2018 | Debut |
| Al Ain | AFC (host) | Winners of the2017–18 UAE Pro League[16] | 14 May 2018[note 2] | Debut |
The two venues were theZayed Sports City Stadium inAbu Dhabi and theHazza bin Zayed Stadium inAl Ain.
| Al Ain | Abu Dhabi | Location of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup. |
|---|---|---|
| Hazza bin Zayed Stadium | Zayed Sports City Stadium | |
| 24°14′44.14″N55°42′59.7″E / 24.2455944°N 55.716583°E /24.2455944; 55.716583 (Hazza bin Zayed Stadium) | 24°24′57.92″N54°27′12.93″E / 24.4160889°N 54.4535917°E /24.4160889; 54.4535917 (Zayed Sports City Stadium) | |
| Capacity:22,717 | Capacity:43,000 | |
 | .jpg) |
A total of sixreferees, twelveassistant referees, and sixvideo assistant referees were appointed for the tournament.[17][18] FIFA announced on 22 November 2018 that the trio of referees and assistant referees from CAF were changed.[19][20]
| Confederation | Referee | Assistant referees | Video assistant referee |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Ryuji Sato | Toru Sagara Hiroshi Yamauchi | Mohammed Abdulla Hassan Mohamed |
| CAF[a] |  Bamlak Tessema Weyesa |  Zakhele Thusi Siwela Waleed Ahmed | |
| CONCACAF |  Jair Marrufo | Frank Anderson Corey Rockwell | Mark Geiger |
| CONMEBOL |  Wilton Sampaio | Rodrigo Figueiredo Bruno Boschilia | Mauro Vigliano |
| OFC | Matthew Conger |  Tevita Makasini Mark Rule | |
| UEFA |  Gianluca Rocchi | Elenito Di Liberatore Mauro Tonolini |  Paweł GilMassimiliano Irrati Danny Makkelie |
Notes
Each team had to name a 23-man squad (three of whom must be goalkeepers). Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match.[2]
The draw of the tournament was held on 4 September 2018, 10:00CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA Headquarters inZürich, to decide the matchups of the second round (between the first round winner and teams from AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF), and the opponents of the two second round winners in the semi-finals (teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA).[21] At the time of the draw, the identity of the teams from AFC, CAF and CONMEBOL were not known.[22][23]
If a match was tied after normal playing time:[2]
| First round | Second round | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||
| 15 December –Al Ain | ||||||||||||||
| Kashima Antlers | 3 | 19 December –Abu Dhabi | ||||||||||||
| Guadalajara | 2 | Kashima Antlers | 1 | |||||||||||
| Real Madrid | 3 | 22 December –Abu Dhabi | ||||||||||||
| Real Madrid | 4 | |||||||||||||
| 18 December –Al Ain | Al Ain | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 15 December –Al Ain | River Plate | 2 (4) | ||||||||||||
| 12 December –Al Ain | Espérance de Tunis | 0 | Al Ain(p) | 2 (5) | ||||||||||
| Al Ain(p) | 3 (4) | Al Ain | 3 | |||||||||||
| Team Wellington | 3 (3) | Match for fifth place | Match for third place | |||||||||||
| 18 December –Al Ain | 22 December –Abu Dhabi | |||||||||||||
| Guadalajara | 1 (5) | Kashima Antlers | 0 | |||||||||||
| Espérance de Tunis(p) | 1 (6) | River Plate | 4 | |||||||||||
All times are local,GST (UTC+4).[24]
| Kashima Antlers | 1–3 | Real Madrid |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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| Kashima Antlers | 0–4 | River Plate |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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1 own goal
Léo Silva (Kashima Antlers, againstGuadalajara)Yahya Nader (Al Ain, againstReal Madrid)The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[33]
| Adidas Golden Ball Alibaba Cloud Award | Adidas Silver Ball | Adidas Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|
| Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) | Caio (Al Ain) | Rafael Santos Borré (River Plate) |
| FIFA Fair Play Award | ||
| Real Madrid | ||
FIFA also named aman of the match for the best player in each game at the tournament.[34][31][32]
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| Tournaments | |
| Finals | |
| Squads | |
| Qualification | |
| Statistics | |
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