2015 FIFA Club World Cup

The 2015 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015 presented by Alibaba E-Auto for sponsorship reasons)[1] was the 12th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions.[2] The tournament was hosted by Japan between 10–20 December 2015.[3]

2015 FIFA Club World Cup
FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015
presented by Alibaba E-Auto
Alibaba E-Auto プレゼンツ
FIFAクラブワールドカップ ジャパン2015
Tournament details
Host countryJapan
Dates10–20 December
Teams7 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Barcelona (3rd title)
Runners-up River Plate
Third place Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Fourth place Guangzhou Evergrande
Tournament statistics
Matches played8
Goals scored21 (2.63 per match)
Attendance272,312 (34,039 per match)
Top scorer(s) Luis Suárez (5 goals)
Best player(s) Luis Suárez
Fair play award Barcelona

Real Madrid were the defending champions, but could not defend their title after being eliminated in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

Barcelona defeated River Plate 3–0 in the final, winning a record third Club World Cup title.

Host bids

The application process for the 2015–2016 as well as the 2017–2018 editions, i.e. two hosts, each hosting two years, began in February 2014.[4] Member associations interested in hosting had to submit a declaration of interest by 30 March 2014, and provide the complete set of bidding documents by 25 August 2014.[5] The FIFA Executive Committee was to select the hosts at their meeting in Morocco in December 2014.[6] However, no such decision regarding the 2015–2016 host was made until 2015.

The following countries expressed an interest in bidding to host the tournament:[7]

  • India (withdrew interest in November 2014)[8]
  • Japan

Japan was officially confirmed as the host of the 2015 and 2016 tournaments on 23 April 2015.[3]

Proposed change to format

Under a proposed change to the competition, led by the Oceania Football Confederation, the new format would mean a removal of the knockout rounds for the quarter-finals and play-off round, replacing it with two round-robin groups of three teams, consisting of two teams from the host nation and the champions of AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, and OFC, with the group winners advancing to the semi-finals to play the champions of CONMEBOL and UEFA. This would allow for all teams to play at least two matches, avoiding the current situation where the loser of the play-off round would play only one match.[9] A decision on this would be taken after the 2014 competition finished. However, according to the press release of the host country, the tournament will continue with the original seven-team format in 2015.[3]

Qualified teams
Location of teams of the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup.
Team Confederation Qualification Qualified date Participation
Enter in the semi-finals
River Plate CONMEBOL Winners of the 2015 Copa Libertadores 22 July 2015 1st
Barcelona UEFA Winners of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League 6 June 2015 4th (Previous: 2006, 2009, 2011)
Enter in the quarter-finals
Guangzhou Evergrande AFC Winners of the 2015 AFC Champions League 21 November 2015 2nd (Previous: 2013)
TP Mazembe CAF Winners of the 2015 CAF Champions League 8 November 2015 3rd (Previous: 2009, 2010)
América CONCACAF Winners of the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League 29 April 2015 2nd (Previous: 2006)
Enter in the play-off for quarter-finals
Auckland City OFC Winners of the 2014–15 OFC Champions League 26 April 2015 7th (Previous: 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima AFC (Hosts) Winners of the 2015 J1 League 5 December 2015 2nd (Previous: 2012)

1 In bold: Previous tournament winners
2 River Plate qualified as the CONMEBOL representatives on 22 July 2015 when UANL, who are from Mexico and not eligible to represent CONMEBOL in the FIFA Club World Cup, were confirmed as their opponents in the final.

Venues

On 22 May 2015, Nagai Stadium in Osaka and International Stadium Yokohama in Yokohama were named as the two venues that would be used in the tournament.[10]

Osaka
Yokohama
Nagai Stadium International Stadium Yokohama
34°36′50.83″N 135°31′6.42″E 35°30′35″N 139°36′20″E
Capacity: 47,000 Capacity: 72,327

Match officials

The appointed match officials were:[11][12]

Confederation Referee Assistant referees
AFC Alireza Faghani (Iran) Reza Sokhandan (Iran)
Mohammadreza Mansouri (Iran)
CAF Sidi Alioum (Cameroon) Evarist Menkouande (Cameroon)
Elvis Guy Noupue Nguegoue (Cameroon)
CONCACAF Joel Aguilar (El Salvador) Juan Francisco Zumba (El Salvador)
Marvin César Torrentera (Mexico)
CONMEBOL Wilmar Roldán (Colombia) Alexander Guzmán (Colombia)
Cristian Jairo de la Cruz (Colombia)
OFC Matthew Conger (New Zealand) Simon Lount (New Zealand)
Tevita Makasini (Tonga)
UEFA Jonas Eriksson (Sweden) Mathias Klasenius (Sweden)
Daniel Wärnmark (Sweden)
Host (support) Ryuji Sato (Japan) Akane Yagi (Japan)

Squads
Main article: 2015 FIFA Club World Cup squads

Each team had to name a 23-man squad (three of whom had to be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline of 30 November 2015. The squads of six of the seven teams were released by FIFA on 3 December 2015 (except Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who only confirmed their place in the tournament on 5 December 2015).[13][14] Injury replacements were allowed until 24 hours before the team's first match.[2]

Matches

The schedule of the tournament, together with the emblem, was unveiled on 24 August 2015.[15][16]

A draw was held on 23 September 2015, 14:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the FIFA headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland, to determine the positions in the bracket for the three teams which enter the quarter-finals.[17][18]

If a match was tied after normal playing time:[2]

  • For elimination matches, extra time was played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was held to determine the winner.
  • For the matches for fifth place and third place, no extra time was played, and a penalty shoot-out was held to determine the winner.
Play-off Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
 10 December – Yokohama                        
  Sanfrecce Hiroshima  2   13 December – Osaka        
  Auckland City  0       TP Mazembe  0
16 December – Osaka
    Sanfrecce Hiroshima  3    
  Sanfrecce Hiroshima  0
      River Plate  1  
20 December – Yokohama
  River Plate  0
13 December – Osaka
    Barcelona  3
  América  1
17 December – Yokohama
  Guangzhou Evergrande  2    
  Barcelona  3
Fifth place Third place
      Guangzhou Evergrande  0  
  América  2   Sanfrecce Hiroshima  2
  TP Mazembe  1   Guangzhou Evergrande  1
16 December – Osaka 20 December – Yokohama

All times are local, JST (UTC+9).[19]

Play-off for quarter-finals
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2–0 Auckland City
Minagawa  9'
Shiotani  70'		 Report
Attendance: 19,421[20]

Quarter-finals
América 1–2 Guangzhou Evergrande
Peralta  55' Report Zheng Long  80'
Paulinho  90+3'
Attendance: 18,772[21]
TP Mazembe 0–3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Report Shiotani  44'
Chiba  56'
Asano  78'
Attendance: 23,609[22]

Match for fifth place
América 2–1 TP Mazembe
Benedetto  19'
Zúñiga  28'		 Report Kalaba  43'
Attendance: 11,686[23]

Semi-finals
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0–1 River Plate
Report Alario  72'
Attendance: 20,133[24]
Barcelona 3–0 Guangzhou Evergrande
Suárez  39', 50', 67' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 63,870[25]

Match for third place
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2–1 Guangzhou Evergrande
Douglas  70', 83' Report Paulinho  4'
Attendance: 47,968[26]

Final
Main article: 2015 FIFA Club World Cup Final
River Plate 0–3 Barcelona
Report Messi  36'
Suárez  49', 68'
Attendance: 66,853[27]

Goalscorers
Rank Player Team Goals
1 Luis Suárez Barcelona 5
2 Paulinho Guangzhou Evergrande 2
Douglas Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Tsukasa Shiotani Sanfrecce Hiroshima
5 Darío Benedetto América 1
Oribe Peralta América
Martín Eduardo Zúñiga América
Lionel Messi Barcelona
Zheng Long Guangzhou Evergrande
Rainford Kalaba TP Mazembe
Lucas Alario River Plate
Takuma Asano Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Kazuhiko Chiba Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Yusuke Minagawa Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Final ranking

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-out are counted as draws.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Barcelona (UEFA) 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 6
River Plate (CONMEBOL) 2 1 0 1 1 3 −2 3
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (AFC) (H) 4 3 0 1 7 2 +5 9
4 Guangzhou Evergrande (AFC) 3 1 0 2 3 6 −3 3
5 América (CONCACAF) 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3
6 TP Mazembe (CAF) 2 0 0 2 1 5 −4 0
7 Auckland City (OFC) 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0
Source: FIFA
(H) Host.

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[28]

adidas
Golden Ball		 adidas
Silver Ball		 adidas
Bronze Ball
Luis Suárez
(Barcelona)
Lionel Messi
(Barcelona)
Andrés Iniesta
(Barcelona)
FIFA Fair Play Award
Barcelona

References
  1. "Alibaba E-Auto signs as Presenting Partner of the FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 9 December 2015.
  2. "Regulations – FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015" (PDF). FIFA.
  3. "Japan set to host continental champions in 2015 and 2016". FIFA.com. 23 April 2015.
  4. "Blatter: A legacy for the future". FIFA.com. 19 December 2013.
  5. "Bidding process opened for eight FIFA competitions". FIFA.com. 19 December 2013.
  6. "India may get to host FIFA Club World Cup". India.com. 15 October 2014.
  7. "High interest in hosting FIFA competitions". FIFA.com. 9 May 2014.
  8. "India not bidding for 2015 and 2016 Fifa Club World Cups". The Times of India. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  9. "Football: More matches likely in Club Cup". New Zealand Herald. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  10. "Osaka to debut as a FIFA Club World Cup venue". FIFA.com. 22 May 2015.
  11. "Referees and assistant referees selected". 10 November 2015.
  12. "Referees & Assistant referees for FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  13. "Squad lists released for Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 3 December 2015.
  14. "FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015 - Squad Lists" (PDF). FIFA.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  15. "Tickets for the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  16. "Japan Reveals Official Emblem for FIFA Club World Cup". FIFA.com. 24 August 2015.
  17. "The draw LIVE on FIFA.com". 22 September 2015.
  18. "Draw for Japan 2015 conducted in Zurich". FIFA.com. 23 September 2015.
  19. "Match Schedule – FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015" (PDF). FIFA.com.
  20. "Match report Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Auckland City FC 2:0 (1:0)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  21. "Match report Club América - Guangzhou Evergrande FC 1:2 (0:0)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  22. "Match report TP Mazembe - Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0:3 (0:1)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  23. "Match report Club América - TP Mazembe 2:1 (2:1)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  24. "Match report Sanfrecce Hiroshima - River Plate 0:1 (0:0)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  25. "Match report FC Barcelona - Guangzhou Evergrande FC 3:0 (1:0)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  26. "Match report Sanfrecce Hiroshima - Guangzhou Evergrande FC 2:1 (0:1)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  27. "Match report River Plate - FC Barcelona 0:3 (0:1)" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  28. "Barcelona trio sweep awards". FIFA.com. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
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