Has The Confederations Cup Had Its Day?

The 2017 edition of the FIFA Confederation Cup is very much in full swing as we approach the final round of group games this weekend but could this final week of the tournament be the last we ever see of what is considered to be a mini World Cup.

The concept in theory is a good one, pit all the regional confederation tournament winners together along with the defending World Cup champions and the hosts of the next edition, so as to give them the perfect dress rehearsal for the main event 12 months later.

But between the theory and the practice something seems to fall apart, this edition in Russia has failed to see the crowds flock to grounds with even the allure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal going up against the hosts on Wednesday failing to capture the imagination of the Russian public.

In terms of attendance the issue is not all that important in regards to the lifeblood of the tournament as there will be much larger numbers in attendance when the World Cup comes around next summer, the real issue is that FIFA want a showpiece club tournament of their own.

Since the Champions League exploded into life at the turn of the millennium it has long been admired by FIFA not for the spectacle it creates but the money also and that is something that Gianni Infantino wants to tap into over the next few years.

His way to do so would be to increase the FIFA Club World Cup from the 7 clubs it already has to a much more bloated 32. The selling point from the FIFA President would be to teams outside Europe who can play in a tournament that resembles the Champions League.

This is something that will begin to become even more pertinent now that the Chinese Super League is going from relative strength to strength and owners of those clubs will want to test themselves against the European powerhouses such as Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

For all the money that China is spending, playing the likes of Brisbane Roar for example will simply not be enough and the clamour to play clubs outside the Asian Confederation will only get greater when more and more stars move to the Far East.

Not only that but it is FIFA’s aim to try and redress the balance in terms of global club football there view is that European Clubs are getting too big in comparison to the South American and Asian counterparts and something will need to be done to try and re-calibrate that.

So should Gianni Infantino’s grand plan come to fruition, the question is where exactly does it fit into an already packed footballing calendar. If we look at it logically then it cannot be an even year due to the World Cup and also the European Championships.

Obviously a new enlarged Club World Cup cannot clash with it’s national older brother and UEFA will not sanction any tournament that potentially clash with their showpiece event. Therefore we have to then look at the odd years of the footballing calendar.

It cannot be held in the 2019,2023,2027 cycle of years as that would mean a clash with the Copa America and life UEFA that would not go down well with CONMEBOL. Therefore the only spare year left is the 2021, 2025,2029 cycle and that means we have one tournament too many.

With that being the case it seems apparent that the Confederations Cup is on its last legs, a spectacle of half empty crowds in a somewhat lukewarm tournament is not what FIFA want from this even if it just to give Russia practice at hosting an international footballing event.

What has not helped its cause is the fact that the 2014 World Cup winners Germany have bought with them an experimental squad as Joachim Low has used this tournament as the perfect opportunity to bed new players in time for their defence of the Jules Rimet trophy.

That decision by Low has certainly drawn the ire of FIFA and although that one instance in isolation will not be enough to make the powers that be scrap the competition it does however add another tick in the negative column, one that perhaps means the tournament is mothballed at the end of next week.

If you were to ask the modern day fan especially one outside of Europe then what would have the greater appeal – Australia vs Chile or Beijing Guoan vs Real Madrid, it is obvious that its the latter and FIFA are fully aware of that and it is exactly why they want to enhance the FIFA Club World Cup.

The only difficult selling point they will have is trying to get European clubs not only on board but taking it seriously, you only have to look back at the ill fated 2000 FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil when both Manchester United and Real Madrid limped out of the competition.

But as we know by now money does have a way of talking the loudest and with FIFA recently getting their way with the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams then a 32 team club edition surely can only be around the corner within the next few years, with that it means bye bye to the Confederations Cup.