Is the Club World Cup a major trophy? It isn’t one that a team is likely to do an open-top bus parade to celebrate winning, but the qualification criteria for it is such that it would be churlish to suggest that it is a waste of time.
In fact, those that normally do it down are supporters of clubs like Everton, who could never hope to qualify for it in the first place. After all, in order to appear in the Club World Cup as a European team you need to have won the Champions League; or at least that used to be the case historically before recent changes.
Excuse me…how much for tickets to the CLUB WORLD CUP…. In the top deck….and thats per ticket…. NOPE
— Vin_the_Villan! (@avfc-usa83.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Although a Football World Championship was held in 1887, that was between the FA Cup semi-finalists, Preston North End, and the Scottish Cup winners, Hibernian. It bears little resemblance to the competition that we’re discussing here, which is more likely to be dated back to 1909, when the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was played as a genuine international tournament between club sides, held in Italy.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that FIFA began to get involved, coming on the back of Brazil organising a ‘World Champions Cup’ that was held in Rio.
As it’s almost the weekend, here’s some useless football trivia: the first “Football World Club Championship” was held in 1887, in which Scottish Cup champions Hibernian defeated English FA Cup semi-finalists Preston North End. Up yours, Real Madrid! pic.twitter.com/7dZcWFS43O
— simon read (@simonnread) March 15, 2019
The competition as we know it in this day and age was really created in the decades that followed, eventually getting underway in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. The entire point of it is to essentially find out which is the best team in the world, with the winners of the various continental tournaments going up against one another.
That meant that the winners of the likes of CONMEBOL and UEFA’s major competitions going head-to-head. It became a knockout tournament in 2005 and remained so until 2023 when it was expanded to 32 teams.
As far as Liverpool are concerned, their involvement in the competition didn’t even begin until the 1981-1982 season, which is when it was known as the Intercontinental Cup and before it had been altered into the tournament that it is now.
The Reds could’ve taken part in 1977 and 1978 following their European Cup wins but declined, eventually deciding to go after winning the competition in 1981. They were up against Flamengo, who had won the Copa Libertadores and went on to beat Liverpool 3-0 in the final, which was held at the National Stadium of Japan in Tokyo.
@footyfrenzy247 Tokyo 1981 🇯🇵🏆 Flamengo dominated Liverpool to lift the Intercontinental Cup 🔴⚫ Zico ran the show 👽🎩, setting up Nunes for Flamengo’s third goal with this stunning through ball 🎯🔥 A masterclass from one of the all-time greats ✨ #Flamengo #IntercontinentalCup #Zico #LiverpoolFC #1981Football #ClassicGoals #Nunes #TokyoFinal #FootballLegends #RetroFootball #BrazilianFootball #FootballHistory #WorldFootball #GoalHighlights #FootballThrowback ♬ original sound – footyfrenzy247
Three years later and the Reds were back, with the same venue having been used to host the Intercontinental Cup. It was another South American team that they faced in the form of Copa Libertadores winners Independiente.
That is because the Intercontinental Cup was only played between teams representing UEFA and CONMEBOL at that time. Once again Liverpool flew out to take part but left disappointed, having been defeated by the Argentinian side in a 1-0 loss. It was their sixth appearance in the competition, having lost four of the previous five and won it once back in 1973.
With 1985 being the Reds’ last appearance in the European Cup final for some time, largely on account of English sides being banned from Europe in the wake of the Heysel Stadium Disaster, it is not surprising that it took some time before Liverpool took part in it again.
They eventually did so in 2005 in the wake of their improbable Champions League win over AC Milan in Istanbul, defeating Costa Rican side Saprissa in the semi-final, which they had been given a bye to, before losing to Brazilian team São Paulo in the final to a scoreline of 1-0.
THAT Rogério Ceni save vs Gerrard in the 2005 Club World Cup Final.
— All Things Brazil™ 🇧🇷 (@SelecaoTalk) February 17, 2024
There was then another gap to Liverpool’s appearance at another Club World Cup, which may have been shorter if the Reds had defeated AC Milan in the final of the Champions League in 2007, or if they had managed to overcome Real Madrid when they played them under Jürgen Klopp in 2018.
As we all know, that defeat proved to be a catalyst for a complete change under the German, with Liverpool overcoming a 3-0 first-leg deficit to Barcelona the following season in order to beat Tottenham Hotspur in the final, ironically hosted in Madrid. They would also go on to another final in 2022, losing to Real Madrid again.
Liverpool in the FIFA Club World Cup
| Year of Club World Cup Final | Previous Season’s Champions League Final Opponents | Previous Season’s Champions League Score | Club World Cup Final Opponents | Club World Cup Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | AC Milan | 3-3 (Liverpool Won on Penalties) | São Paulo | 0-1 |
| 2019 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2-0 | Flamengo | 1-0 (after extra-time) |
The table above looks at how Liverpool have got on in the FIFA Club World Cup in the years since the tournament was launched in its current guise, ignoring the years that it was known as the Intercontinental Cup.
In order to offer some context, we explain who the Reds defeated to make it into the Club World Cup and who they played in the final, with Liverpool’s score always first.
Taking a Closer Look at Liverpool’s Club World Cup Wins
In spite of the fact that Liverpool dominated the European football stage at the end of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the Reds’ performances in the FIFA Club World Cup haven’t always been the best. That is largely due to the fact that the tournament as we know it today didn’t begin until 2005, so the appearances in the competition have been limited as a result. Here is a closer look at the times that Liverpool have won it:
2019 (Liverpool 1 Flamengo 0 After Extra-Time)
As was traditional at the time, the winner of the Champions League was given a bye straight to the semi-final stage of the competition. Having lost at the club’s last appearance in the competition to a South American side, there was a determination to win it in 2019; not least because the Reds really did seem like the best team in the world at the time.
Their semi-final match pitted them against Mexican side Monterrey, which Liverpool won 2-1 thanks to goals against Naby Keïta and Roberto Firmino, with the latter coming in the 91st minute.
🇧🇷🇸🇳🇪🇬
Club World Cup Final, 21/12/19 🗓️
— Liverpool FC (@lfcbot.bsky.social) December 21, 2024 at 10:13 AM
Flamengo were to be Liverpool’s opponents, having also joined the tournament at the semi-final stage where they defeated Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal 3-1. The Club World Cup was hosted by Qatar in 2019 as part of the country’s sports-washing programme and in preparation for hosting the World Cup three years later.
The final itself was a somewhat dull affair, with no goals scored in spite of Roberto Firmino having a shot in the first minute. It was the Brazilian who scored the winning goal nine minutes into extra-time.
