The 2007 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was a football tournament played in Japan from 7 to 16 December 2007. It was the fourth FIFA Club World Cup, a tournament organised by FIFA for the winners of each confederation's top continental club tournament.
Seven teams from the six confederations entered the tournament; the other team was the host country's representatives, usually the league champions. Defending champions Internacional did not qualify as they were eliminated in the second stage of the 2007 Copa Libertadores.
Italian side Milan became the first European team to win the Club World Cup with a 4–2 victory over Argentinian club Boca Juniors in the final. That title made them the most successful team in the world in terms of official international trophies won (18).
Host bids The FIFA Executive Committee appointed Japan as hosts of the 2007 tournament on 15 September 2006 during their meeting in Zürich, Switzerland.
Qualified teams
The qualified teams were decided during 2007 through the six major continental competitions. The winner of each regional club championship participated in the 2007 Club World Cup. In March 2007, the FIFA executive committee introduced a qualifying playoff between the 2007 OFC Champions League champion and the host nation's 2007 J. League champion, as opposed to previous years, in which the Oceania champions were given direct entry into the tournament. In order to avoid the participation of two teams from the same country, the best-placed non-Japanese team in the AFC Champions League would take the "host" berth if a Japanese team won that competition, which indeed happened as Urawa Red Diamonds won the 2007 AFC Champions League. Also, the fifth-place match was eliminated for this edition.
It was the first participation in the FIFA Club World Cup for all seven teams that qualified.
TeamConfederationQualificationParticipationEntering in the semi-finals MilanUEFAWinners of 2006–07 UEFA Champions LeagueDebut Boca JuniorsCONMEBOLWinners of 2007 Copa LibertadoresDebutEntering in the quarter-finals Étoile du SahelCAFWinners of 2007 CAF Champions LeagueDebut Urawa Red DiamondsAFCWinners of 2007 AFC Champions LeagueDebut PachucaCONCACAFWinners of 2007 CONCACAF Champions' CupDebutEntering in the play-off for quarter-finals SepahanAFC (host)Runners-up of 2007 AFC Champions LeagueDebut Waitakere UnitedOFCWinners of 2007 OFC Champions LeagueDebut Notes
Venues Tokyo, Yokohama and Toyota were the three cities to serve as venues for the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup.
YokohamaTokyoToyota International Stadium Yokohama National Stadium Toyota Stadium Capacity: 72,327 Capacity: 57,363 Capacity: 45,000
Squads For a list of all the squads of this tournament, see the article 2007 FIFA Club World Cup squads.
Match officials ConfederationRefereeAssistant refereesAFCMark Shield (Australia)Hiroyoshi Takayama (Japan)Ben Wilson (Australia)Nathan Gibson (Australia)CAFCoffi Codjia (Benin)Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon)Celestin Ntagungira (Rwanda)CONCACAFMarco Antonio Rodríguez (Mexico)Jose Luis Camargo (Mexico)Pedro Rebollar (Mexico)CONMEBOLJorge Larrionda (Uruguayan)Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguayan)Miguel Nievas (Ecuador)OFCPeter O'Leary (New Zealand)Brent Best (New Zealand)Matthew Taro (Solomon Islands)UEFAClaus Bo Larsen (Denmark)Bill Hansen (Denmark)Henryk Sonderby (Turkey)
Matches
All times local (UTC+9)
Play-off for quarter-finals
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Match for third place
Final
Goalscorers RankPlayerTeamGoals1 Washington Urawa Red Diamonds32 Filippo Inzaghi Milan2 Emad Mohammed Sepahan4 Abdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail Sepahan1 Saber Ben Frej Étoile du Sahel Neri Cardozo Boca Juniors Amine Chermiti Étoile du Sahel Kaká Milan Mahmoud Karimi Sepahan Yuichiro Nagai Urawa Red Diamonds Moussa Narry Étoile du Sahel Alessandro Nesta Milan Rodrigo Palacio Boca Juniors Clarence Seedorf Milan
1 own goal Massimo Ambrosini (Milan, against Boca Juniors)
2 own goals Hadi Aghili (Sepahan, against Waitakere United and Urawa Red Diamonds)
Awards
Adidas Golden BallToyota AwardAdidas Silver BallAdidas Bronze Ball Kaká(Milan) Clarence Seedorf(Milan) Rodrigo Palacio(Boca Juniors)FIFA Fair Play Award Urawa Red Diamonds
References
External links
FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2007, FIFA.com 2007 FIFA Club World Cup Official Site (Archived) FIFA Technical Report