FIFA Club World Cup: The 5 greatest teams in tournament history
The FIFA Club World Cup determines which team is the best in the world each December. Here’s a look at the five best teams in the tournament’s history.
Which club team is the best in the world has been the subject of numerous bar arguments over the years. As the FIFA Club World Cup prepares to crown the best team on the planet come Saturday, we figured this was a good time to look back and try to determine which ones have been the best club teams of decades past.
The world’s best clubs span the planet as well as distinct playing styles. Whether it was the scoring flair of a South American team or the defensive approach of a European side, the Intercontinental Cup, and later the FIFA Club World Cup, has showcased some of the game’s greatest stars over the decades.
From 1960 to 2004, the Intercontinental Cup — also known as the Toyota Cup starting in 1980, when the match was played in Tokyo — featured the European club champion pitted against the winners of South America’s Copa Libertadores. The cup’s first winner ever was Real Madrid, who defeated Penarol of Uruguay. The last champion was Porto of Portugal, who overcame Once Caldas of Colombia in a penalty shootout in 2004.
The game, not officially recognized by FIFA throughout most of its history, was reformatted in the year 2000. FIFA took over the match and transformed it into a mini-tournament featuring club champions from all its confederations. As of 2012, most teams qualify to the FIFA Club World Cup by winning their continental competitions. The host nation’s national league champions also get a slot at the tournament. These are the best team’s in the tournament’s history, decade by decade.
1960s: Santos
While most soccer fans recognize Pele as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player of all time, his legacy is very much tied to Brazil and the three World Cups he helped his country win. But the Brazilian star is also very well known for his days at Santos, one of only two pro club teams he ever played for (the other being the New York Cosmos at the end of his career).
Santos, known as the Santasticos, was where O Rei teamed up with strikers Pepe and Coutinho to feature a three-man attack that turned out to be one of the deadliest in the game’s history. The team reached the climax of their success in 1962, capturing a unique quadruple: Paulista championship, the Taca Brasil, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup.
The Intercontinental Cup, played over two legs at the time, had Santos playing Benfica of Portugal. Led by Eusebio, Benfica had won the European Cup and were one of the best club sides of the time. At the famed Maracana Stadium in Rio, two goals from Pele helped Santos to a 3-1 victory. In the return match at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz, Santos only needed a draw to lift the trophy. Instead, the Brazilians routed Benfica 5-2. A Pele hat-trick and a goal each from Pepe and Coutinho overwhelmed the Portuguese defense, a prelude of more to come.
Santos repeated as world champions, defeating AC Milan, featuring the great Gianni Rivera and Jose Altafini, following three a three-game series. The deciding playoff match, played at the Maracana, resulted in a 1-0 win for Santos. The three-game series had been a heated affair, the start of the Intercontinental Cup’s bloody history.