The history of the FIFA Club World Cup and BVB's role | OneFootball

In 1930, the first football World Cup winners were crowned when hosts Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final. After the Second World War, the popularity of football continued to grow, and Henri Delaunay, then UEFA General Secretary, came up with the idea that club teams should also compete on an intercontinental level.

The establishment of the Copa Campeones de América in 1960 (later the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the UEFA Champions League) paved the way for a head-to-head showdown between the best European and South American clubs. Back in 1960, Peñarol Montevideo and Real Madrid met for the first leg of the World Cup in Uruguay - a 0-0 draw that was decided in the second leg (5-1 in favour of the Spaniards).

A further 17 matches were played in a two-leg format before the final switched to a single match in 1980, held in Tokyo, Japan (or Yokohama from 2002) - but still a duel between Europe's and South America's best.

The Intercontinental Cup final in 2000, in which Real Madrid met Boca Juniors in Tokyo, coincided with the start of a new experimental FIFA Club World Cup format. The tournament, which was first held in Brazil, featured seven participants. Venues since 2005 have included Japan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The final chapter of this era was written by Manchester City, who defeated Fluminense 4-0 in December 2023.

From 2025, the FIFA Club World Cup will be harmonised with the World Cup tournament for national teams in terms of format and staging cycle (every four years). The previous competition, in which the winners of the six continental championships faced each other, will continue to be held annually, now under the name ''FIFA Intercontinental Cup.''

The record winners are Real Madrid with eight titles, followed by AC Milan and Bayern Munich (four each). Borussia Dortmund's name is also immortalised in the annals of this competition.

One of 31: When BVB won the Intercontinental Cup

Borussia Dortmund are one of 31 clubs worldwide to be able to display the silverware of club world champions in their trophy cabinet. The Black & Yellows achieved this honour once before - in 1997, against the Brazilian club Cruzeiro from the city of Belo Horizonte.

To Tokyo via TurinAfter back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996, BVB won the UEFA Champions League in 1997 with a 3-1 victory over Juventus. The team not only won their third major title in a row, but also qualified for the Intercontinental Cup.

A tight calendar…The Intercontinental Cup match between the best European and South American teams was not particularly important to most of the BVB players, mainly because it had to be squeezed into a busy schedule. After their fifth consecutive English week, the team set off for Tokyo.

…lots of traffic in JapanA long flight, a Japanese metropolis in gridlock, jet lag – circumstances could have been better. On the morning of 2 December 1997, a few squad members were gloomy over breakfast: "They'll score five on us today." Cruzeiro, the winner of the South American Copa Libertadores, had just strengthened their team with three Brazil internationals - Bebeto, Donizete and Goncalves - and were determined to win the title. In South America, the Intercontinental Cup held a completely different status than in Europe, especially in Germany.

Brazilian “wakes up” Borussia“This is an Intercontinental Cup final! You only reach something like this once in a lifetime. Pull yourselves together!” said BVB's Brazilian defensive leader Julio César to his teammates. After a shaky opening quarter of an hour, they worked their way into the game and took the lead in the 34th minute with a goal from Michael Zorc. After a Cruzeiro player was dismissed for a second yellow card with 15 minutes left, the Black & Yellows pressed home their numerical advantage and put the game to bed thanks to a goal from Heiko Herrlich to make it 2-0 with five minutes left to play.

“Crowning glory of our work.”The president at the time, Dr Gerd Niebaum, was beaming with joy and described the title in heroic terms: “The Intercontinental Cup is one of the honours of a great club. For me, it perhaps carries even more weight than winning the Champions League, as the Intercontinental Cup already requires victory in the Champions League. It is the crowning glory of our club's work to date. German champions, Champions League winners, Intercontinental Cup winners - a cycle is complete.” (br)

Borussia Dortmund 2–0 Cruzeiro2 December 1997 Attendance: 51,514 (in Tokyo)BVB: Stefan Klos – Wolfgang Feiersinger, Stefan Reuter, Júlio César – Jörg Heinrich, Steffen Freund, Paulo Sousa, Andreas Möller, Michael Zorc (80, Jovan Kirovski) – Heiko Herrlich, Stéphane Chapuisat (75, Harry Decheiver). Coach: Nevio ScalaGoals: 1-0 Michael Zorc (34), 2-0 Heiko Herrlich (85)