Real Madrid, which became champion this Saturday (1st) of the 2023-2024 Champions Leaguewill be the first European club to compete in the renewed and reformulated version of the Intercontinental Cup.
Last December, FIFA announced the ‘return’ of the Intercontinental Cup, or at least a competition named after that tournament that until 2004 pitted the current champions of Europe and South America face to face annually, the two continents that traditionally dominated world football.
This Intercontinental Cup is part of the reform of the calendar, marked above all by the creation of an expanded version of the Club World Cup, which in 2025 will debut in the United States a new format with 32 participating teams instead of the 7 with which it is currently played.
Before this Saturday’s final, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund had already secured their places in this new Club World Cup. But the new Intercontinental Cup, which will initially be played at the end of this year, in a location yet to be announced, will be played with the clubs that became continental champions in 2024.
The European champion will go straight to the final, while representatives from the other confederations will have to compete in the previous rounds.
On one side of the bracket, the champions of Asia, Africa and Oceania define a semifinalist, while the winners of Conmebol and Concacaf decide the other place with a duel between them.
The single-game semi-final is played a few days before the final, in the country chosen to host the final part of the tournament. The winner will be Real Madrid’s rival in the final.
At the moment, Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt’s Al Ahly and New Zealand’s Auckland have won the titles in their confederations.
Winning the Champions League also allows the winner to compete in the European Super Cup, the game that opens the official season of European club competitions.
Real Madrid will face the Italian Atalanta, who recently became champions of the Europa League, in the final of this continental Super Cup, on August 12, at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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