List of world champion football clubs

This list includes the official (de jure) world champion football clubs recognized by FIFA. The official competitions that grant this title are the extinct Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004) and, in 2000 and since 2005, the FIFA Club World Cup.

World club champion trophies
Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004)
FIFA Club World Championship (2000)
FIFA Club World Cup (since 2005)

Competitions

FIFA Club World Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament officially assigns the world title.[1] The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. It was not held between 2001 and 2004 due to a combination of factors, most importantly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure.[2] Since 2005, the competition has been held every year, and has been hosted by Brazil, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. The FIFA Club World Cup's prestige is perceived quite differently in different parts of the football world; while it is widely regarded as the most distinguished club level trophy in South America,[3][4] it struggles to attract interest in most of Europe compared to the UEFA Champions League and commonly lacks recognition as a high-ranking contest.[5][6]

The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000. It ran in parallel with the Intercontinental Cup (also known as European/South American Cup), a competition organised jointly by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) first disputed in 1960 by the winners of the European Champions' Cup and the Copa Libertadores. In 2005, after the Intercontinental Cup's last edition, that competition was merged with the FIFA Club World Cup's first edition and renamed the "FIFA Club World Championship". In 2006, the tournament took its current name. As required by the regulations, a representative from FIFA present the winner of the World Cup with the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and with a FIFA World Champions certificate.[7]

The current format of the tournament involves seven teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks; the winners of that year's AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), CONCACAF Champions League (North America), Copa Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe), along with the host nation's national champions, participate in a straight knock-out tournament. The host nation's national champions dispute a play-off against the Oceania champions, from which the winner joins the champions of Asia, Africa and North America at the quarter-finals. The quarter-final winners go on to face the European and South American champions, who enter at the semi-final stage, for a place in the final. In Europe the tournament is almost ignored by the mass media, also because of its sporting level, considered inferior to the Intercontinental Cup,[8] indeed when the sides used to meet in a one-off game in Japan (and even before), this was still a fair fight. The opening up of the global market in football has changed the balance. These days the best South Americans (and the stars from all the other continents) are usually playing for the Europeans.[9][10]

Intercontinental Cup

The Intercontinental Cup, also known as European/South American Cup, was an official international football competition endorsed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL),[11][12][13] contested between representative clubs from these confederations, usually the winners of the European Champions' Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League), and the South American Copa Libertadores. The competition was played by representatives clubs of most developed continents in the football world; has since been replaced by the FIFA Club World Cup. All editions were official competitions UEFA and CONMEBOL[14][15] and indirectly also of FIFA.[16][17][18][19]

From its formation in 1960 to 1979, the competition was contested over a two legged tie, with a playoff if necessary until 1968, and penalty kicks later. During the 1970s, European participation in the Intercontinental Cup became a running question due to controversial events in the 1969 final,[20] and some European Champions Club' winner teams withdrew.[21] From 1980 until 2004, the competition was contested over a single match held in Japan and sponsored by multinational automaker Toyota, which offered a secondary trophy (that flanked the original), the Toyota Cup.[22]

Throughout the history of football, various attempts have been made to organize a tournament that identifies "the best club team in the world" – such as the Football World Championship, the Lipton Trophy, the Copa Rio, Pequeña Copa del Mundo but also the Mundialito de Clubs - due to FIFA's lack of interest or inability to organize club competitions,[23] – the Intercontinental Cup is considered by FIFA as the official predecessor[24][16] to the FIFA Club World Cup, which was held for the first time in 2000.[25]

All the winning teams were regarded by worldwide mass media and the football community, FIFA included (as News Center productions and not cataloged on the FIFA website as official entity documents),[26] as "world champions" de facto.[27][28][29][30] On 27 October 2017 FIFA Council, while not promoting statistical unification with the current World Cup, in respect to the history of the two tournaments[31] (which merged in 2005)[32] has officilised (de jure) the world title and recognized all winners as official[33][16][34] club world champions[35] with the same status as FIFA Club World Cup winners.[36][31][37][38][39][40][41][42] FIFA changing only the conferred title,[43][44] also because for the FIFA Statute, the Intercontinental Cup was already an official competition[45] unlike, for example, the King Fahd Cup which became the FIFA Confederations Cup.[46][47]

As it happened, for example, for the statistics of the Brazilian Championship, there was the unification of the titles of champions (considered all official) differentiating the competitions (Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, Taça Brasil, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A), organized by different federations (FPF–FFD in 1967, CBD from 1959 to 1978, CBF from 1979),[48] in the list of winners issued by the main federation, the CBF.[49]Another similar case is that of the Argentine champions. Over the years seven different federations have organized the championship, the Argentine Football Association (AFA), that is the current Argentine federation, recognizes all titles as official.[50] Even in Europe, precisely in Italy, there has been another noteworthy case. The FIGC, the current Italian federation, recognizes as official the national championship organized by CCI and won by Pro Vercelli.[51]

Winners

By club

In synthesis FIFA has two types of world champions, those deriving from the Intercontinental Cup and those deriving from the Club World Cup (the two competitions, albeit different, confer the same title) so in accordance to what is officially communicated by FIFA, the total count of official[52][16][53][37] world titles is as follows:[54][55][56][57][58][59][60]

Key
IC Intercontinental Cup (defunct)
FCWC FIFA Club World Cup
List of world champion football clubs
Club Country IC FCWC Total Years won
Real Madrid  Spain 3 4 7 1960, 1998, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018
Milan  Italy 3 1 4 1969, 1989, 1990, 2007
Boca Juniors  Argentina 3 0 3 1977, 2000, 2003
Nacional  Uruguay 3 0 3 1971, 1980, 1988
Peñarol  Uruguay 3 0 3 1961, 1966, 1982
Bayern Munich  Germany 2 1 3 1976, 2001, 2013
Internazionale  Italy 2 1 3 1964, 1965, 2010
São Paulo  Brazil 2 1 3 1992, 1993, 2005
Barcelona  Spain 0 3 3 2009, 2011, 2015
Ajax  Netherlands 2 0 2 1972, 1995
Independiente  Argentina 2 0 2 1973, 1984
Juventus  Italy 2 0 2 1985, 1996
Porto  Portugal 2 0 2 1987, 2004
Santos  Brazil 2 0 2 1962, 1963
Manchester United  England 1 1 2 1999, 2008
Corinthians  Brazil 0 2 2 2000, 2012
Atlético Madrid  Spain 1 0 1 1974
Borussia Dortmund  Germany 1 0 1 1997
Estudiantes  Argentina 1 0 1 1968
Feyenoord  Netherlands 1 0 1 1970
Flamengo  Brazil 1 0 1 1981
Grêmio  Brazil 1 0 1 1983
Olimpia  Paraguay 1 0 1 1979
Racing Club  Argentina 1 0 1 1967
Red Star Belgrade  Serbia 1 0 1 1991
River Plate  Argentina 1 0 1 1986
Vélez Sarsfield  Argentina 1 0 1 1994
Internacional  Brazil 0 1 1 2006
Liverpool  England 0 1 1 2019

By country

Winners by country.[lower-alpha 1]

Country IC FCWC Total
 Spain 4 7 11
 Brazil 6 4 10
 Argentina 9 0 9
 Italy 7 2 9
 Uruguay 6 0 6
 Germany 3 1 4
 Netherlands 3 0 3
 England 1 2 3
 Portugal 2 0 2
 Paraguay 1 0 1
 Serbia1 1 0 1

1 = Includes Yugoslavia records.

By confederation
Confederation IC FCWC Total
UEFA 21 12 33
CONMEBOL 22 4 26

All-time runners-up without title
Key
IC Intercontinental Cup (defunct)
FCWC FIFA Club World Cup
List of world champion football clubs runners-up without title
Club IC FCWC Total
Benfica
2
—
 1961, 1962
Cruzeiro
2
—
 1976, 1997
Vasco da Gama
1
1
 1998, 2000
Celtic
1
—
 1967
Panathinaikos
1
—
 1971
Borussia Mönchengladbach
1
—
 1977
Malmö FF
1
—
 1979
Nottingham Forest
1
—
 1980
Aston Villa
1
—
 1982
Hamburger SV
1
—
 1983
Argentinos Juniors
1
—
 1985
Steaua București
1
—
 1986
PSV Eindhoven
1
—
 1988
Atlético Nacional
1
—
 1989
Colo-Colo
1
—
 1992
Palmeiras
1
—
 1999
Once Caldas
1
—
 2004
LDU Quito — 1 2008
TP Mazembe — 1 2010
Chelsea — 1 2012
Raja Casablanca — 1 2013
San Lorenzo — 1 2014
Kashima Antlers — 1 2016
Al-Ain — 1 2018

See also

Notes
  1. The records of clubs from currently non-existing associations such as Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Yugoslavia are attributed to those federations, since the corresponding titles were won when the clubs were affiliated to those associations.

References
  1. "FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup Japan 2005: Report and Statistics" (PDF). pp. 5, 19.
  2. "FIFA decides to postpone 2001 Club World Championship to 2003". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 May 2001. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  3. "Ignored in Europe, Club World Cup finds adulation in S.America". Times of Oman. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  4. Tim Vickery (15 December 2008). "The prestige of the Club World Cup". BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. Peter Staunton (12 December 2014). "Why does the Club World Cup still struggle for relevance?". goal.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  6. Tim Vickery (13 December 2010). "World Club Cup deserves respect". BBC. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  7. "Regulations - FIFA Club World Cup 2017" (PDF). p. 37.
  8. Tim Vickery (15 December 2008). "The prestige of the Club World Cup". BBC. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  9. Tim Vickery (15 December 2017). ESPN (ed.). "Balance that no longer exists; in today's globalised market the best players South Americans are representing the European champions teams". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Tim Vickery (22 December 2018). "River Plate's third-place win doesn't hide that South American football continues to lose ground". ESPN. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  11. - The winners of UEFA Champions League undertake to part in the following competitions: a) The UEFA Super cup, which is held at the start of each new season. b) Intercontinental competitions arranged by UEFA and other confederations. - Clubs are not authorised to represent UEFA or the UEFA Champions League without UEFA's prior written approval. cfr. "We care about football - Regulation of the UEFA Champions League 2003/04" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. p. 2.
  12. "Legend – UEFA club competition" (PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 2009. p. 99. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  13. "Competencias oficiales de la CONMEBOL". Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (in Spanish). 2011. pp. 99, 107. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  14. "Las competiciones oficiales de la CONMEBOL". CONMEBOL.
  15. "Real Madrid CF". UEFA.com.
  16. For FIFA statute, official competitions are those for representative teams organized by FIFA or any confederation. Representative teams are usually national teams but also club teams that represent a confederation in the interconfederal competitions or a member association in a continental competition cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). p. 5. cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018: Statistical-kit" (PDF). 10 December 2018. p. 13. cfr. "2018/19 UEFA Champions League regulations" (PDF). p. 10.
  17. In accordance with the regulations integrated in the FIFA Statute, official competitions for club teams can be defined as those organized under the auspices of FIFA, confederations and member associations, or authorized by them, excluding friendly matches and test matches; say the confederal and interconfederal cups (arranged by FIFA or confederations), the championships and the national cups (arranged by member associations). cfr. "LAWS OF THE GAME 2015/16" (PDF). p. 18. cfr. "REGULATIONS on the Status and Transfer of Players 2016" (PDF). p. 5. cfr. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (ed.). "FIFA Governance Regulations (FGR) 2016" (PDF). pp. 6–7, 9–11. cfr. "Regulations Governing International Matches" (PDF). p. 15, 25. cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). pp. 5, 19–21, 33–35, 37, 44, 74. cfr. "FIFA ignora Taça Latina do Benfica, FC Porto é o clube português com mais títulos" (in Portuguese). 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  18. Santiago García (3 July 1960). La Vanguardia (ed.). "Los campeones de las Copas de Europa y Sudamérica, Real Madrid y Peñarol, disputarán el primer partido de la final de la Copa del Mundo de clubs" (PDF) (in Spanish). p. 34.
  19. Until 1955 FIFA limited itself to authorizing the creation of international competitions for clubs only if they were organized by at least two member associations. From 1955 he assigned the confederations the exclusive right to organize competitions deemed official. cfr. Union des Associations Européennes de Football (October 2004). "50 years of the European Cup" (PDF). pp. 7–9.
  20. "1969: Milan prevail in tough contest". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. October 22, 1969. Archived from the original on December 26, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  21. Risolo, Don (2010). Soccer Stories: Anecdotes, Oddities, Lore, and Amazing Feats p.109. U of Nebraska Press. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  22. "FIFA Club World Cup 2012 - Statistical Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 6 November 2012. p. 9. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  23. "50 years of the European Cup" (PDF). Union des Associations Européennes de Football. October 2004. pp. 7–9. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  24. "FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup: Solidarity – the name of the game" (PDF). FIFA Activity Report 2005. Zurich: Fédération Internationale de Football Association: 62. April 2004 – May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  25. "FIFA Club World Championship to replace Toyota Cup from 2005". Fédération Internationale de Football Association. May 17, 2004. Archived from the original on April 30, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  26. "OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS". FIFA.COM.
  27. "We are the champions". FIFA.COM. 1 December 2005. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  28. "Milan thrive on world stage". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 4 December 2003. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  29. "Ronaldo treble fires Madrid to Club World Cup glory". Union des Associations Européennes de Football. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  30. Fédération Internationale de Football Association, ed. (18 December 2015). "Japan Aiming High" (PDF). The FIFA Weekly. No. 50. pp. 8–9. OCLC 862248672. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  31. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018: Statistical-kit" (PDF). 10 December 2018. p. 13.
  32. "FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA Cup: Solidarity – the name of the game" (PDF). FIFA Activity Report 2005. Zurich: Fédération Internationale de Football Association: 60. April 2004 – May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  33. "Official (plural officials), from the Latin officiālis. 1. The official word is also used to refer to what is recognized or derives from an authority. cfr. dictionary.com. "Official, definition". 2. Approved by the government or someone in power. cfr. dictionary.cambridge.org. "official". It is synonymous with legal, legitimate, approved. cfr. thesaurus.com. "Synonyms for official".
  34. FIFA in its statute recognizes as official all competitions organized by itself and by the continental confederations; indeed, on its website, it calls the competitions played under its auspices simply "FIFA Tournaments". cfr. FIFA (April 2016). "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). p. 5. cfr. FIFA.COM. "Fifa tournaments".
  35. “While it does not promote the statistical unification of tournaments, that is, has not absorbed to the Intercontinental Cup (merged with FIFA Club World Cup in 2005), the title was conferred by an official document from the world federation so it is legally a FIFA world title" cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019™" (PDF). p. 12. cfr.
  36. "FIFA Council approves key organisational elements of the FIFA World Cup/ Recognition of all European and South American teams that won the Intercontinental Cup – played between 1960 and 2004 – as club world champions". Fifa.com.
  37. “While it does not promote the statistical unification of tournaments, that is, has not absorbed to the Intercontinental Cup (merged with FIFA Club World Cup in 2005), the title was conferred by an official document from the world federation so it is legally a FIFA world title" cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019™" (PDF). p. 12. cfr.
  38. "Manchester United recognised as two-time world club champions following FIFA ruling". Mirror.co.uk.
  39. "Real Madrid are the most successful club across the history of the two competitions, with a total of five victories (2016)". Espn.co.uk.
  40. "Real Madrid! Sixth Club World Cup!". Realmadrid.com.
  41. "Historical decision, register Club World Cup is rewritten". Foxsports.it (in Italian).
  42. "La FIFA reconoció a los ganadores de la Intercontinental como campeones mundiales". Goal.com (in Spanish; with documents.).
  43. “While it does not promote the statistical unification of tournaments, that is, has not absorbed to the Intercontinental Cup (merged with FIFA Club World Cup in 2005), FIFA is the only organization with worldwide jurisdiction over continental confederations and, then, the only one that can confer a title on that level, ergo the title was assigned by FIFA with Official Document to the winners of the Intercontinental Cup is legally a FIFA world title." cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). p. 19. cfr.
  44. "FIFA Council approves key organisational elements of the FIFA World Cup/ Recognition of all European and South American teams that won the Intercontinental Cup – played between 1960 and 2004 – as club world champions". Fifa.com.
  45. For FIFA statute, official competitions are those for representative teams organized by FIFA or any confederation. Representative teams are usually national teams but also club teams that represent a confederation in the interconfederal competitions or a member association in a continental competition cfr. "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). p. 5. cfr. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018: Statistical-kit" (PDF). 10 December 2018. p. 13. cfr. "2018/19 UEFA Champions League regulations" (PDF). p. 10.
  46. The King Fahd Cup was organized by the King Fahd and the Saudi Arabian Federation, therefore, according to the FIFA statute, it was initially played in an unofficial way. «According to the FIFA statute, the official competitions are those for representative teams organized by FIFA or any confederation (not the national federations, which organize cups and championships in the country itself officially having only national jurisdiction) cfr. "UEFA Statutes" (PDF). p. 3. Representative teams are usually national teams but also teams of clubs that represent a confederation in intercontinental competitions or a member association in confederal competitions.» cfr."Statistical kit FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018" (PDF). p. 13. cfr. UEFA (ed.). "2018/19 UEFA Champions League regulations" (PDF). p. 10.
  47. "13 things you need to know about the Confederations Cup".
  48. Folha de S.Paulo (26 November 2018). "Por que o Palmeiras é decacampeão? Veja os títulos nacionais do clube" (in Portuguese).
  49. Assessoria CBF (27 November 2016). "Palmeiras: nove vezes campeão brasileiro". cbf.com.br (in Portuguese).
  50. SITIO OFICIAL DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DEL FÚTBOL ARGENTINO (17 June 2015). "Campeones de Primera División". afa.com.ar (in Spanish).
  51. legaseriea.it. "Albo d'oro Serie A" (in Italian).
  52. "Official (plural officials), from the Latin officiālis. 1. The official word is also used to refer to what is recognized or derives from an authority. cfr. dictionary.com. "Official, definition". 2. Approved by the government or someone in power. cfr. dictionary.cambridge.org. "official". It is synonymous with legal, legitimate, approved. cfr. thesaurus.com. "Synonyms for official".
  53. FIFA in its statute recognizes as official all competitions organized by itself and by the continental confederations; indeed, on its website, it calls the competitions played under its auspices simply "FIFA Tournaments". cfr. FIFA (April 2016). "FIFA Statutes, April 2016 edition" (PDF). p. 5. cfr. FIFA.COM. "Fifa tournaments".
  54. "Manchester United recognised as two-time world club champions following FIFA ruling". Mirror.co.uk.
  55. "Real Madrid are the most successful club across the history of the two competitions, with a total of five victories (2016)". Espn.co.uk.
  56. "Real Madrid! Sixth Club World Cup!". Realmadrid.com.
  57. "Historical decision, register Club World Cup is rewritten". Foxsports.it (in Italian).
  58. "La FIFA reconoció a los ganadores de la Intercontinental como campeones mundiales". Goal.com (in Spanish; with documents.).
  59. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017: Statistical Kit FIFA" (PDF). pp. 15, 40, 41, 42.
  60. "FIFA Council approves key organisational elements of the FIFA World Cup/ Recognition of all European and South American teams that won the Intercontinental Cup – played between 1960 and 2004 – as club world champions". Fifa.com.
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