+ What is the tournament?
The Club World Cup has existed in various forms earlier, but on a much smaller scale – in the last few years with only six or seven teams. This year's new format is more like a "normal" football World Cup, where 32 clubs form eight groups of four teams. The teams meet once and then the first and second teams advance to the playoffs, which begin with the quarterfinals.
The clubs come from six different confederations and have been selected according to various "objective criteria," where the European Uefa has been allocated the most places – twelve.
There are also six teams from South America, four from Asia, Africa, North and Central America, while Oceania has to settle for one place.
+ Where is the tournament played?
On twelve stadiums in eleven cities in the USA: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington DC. The premiere between Al-Ahly and Inter Miami is played at Hard Rock Stadium on the night of Sunday, June 15 in Miami, and the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 13.
+ How can you follow the tournament?
The streaming service Dazn broadcasts all 63 matches for free.
+ Which teams are participating?
Among the favorites are the Champions League winners Paris SG, Real Madrid, and the Copa Libertadores champion from Brazil – Botafogo.
However, three newly crowned champions in the largest leagues are missing: Liverpool, Barcelona, and Napoli. This is because the tournament only allows two teams from the same nation to participate – unless another team from the same nation has won the Champions League in the last four seasons.
Lionel Messi's Inter Miami got a place because the USA is the host nation. Inter Miami won the Eastern Conference in MLS last season, but it has been speculated that FIFA gave the club a place to get the Argentine superstar in the tournament.
+ Can the players cope after a long season?
The discussion is about the lack of rest and the resulting injury risk for the players after a long season.
Many players have made up to 60 matches this season, and one who has criticized the situation is the English superstar Harry Kane.
If I'm being honest, you don't listen to the players, said Bayern Munich's striker to the BBC.
FIFA's president Gianni Infantino has tried to downplay the criticism.
It's a tournament that is played every four years. The winner plays seven matches – it's like one and a half matches more per year, he said to CNN.
+ Which Swedes are participating?
Viktor Gyökeres, Alexander Isak, and Dejan Kulusevski? No, if you want to see the biggest Swedish stars play football this summer, you'll have to look elsewhere.
However, the national team's Samuel Dahl (Benfica, on loan from Roma), Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund), and John Mellberg (Salzburg) and a whole bunch of lesser-known players, such as the former Hammarby players Gustav Ludwigson and Darijan Bojanic in South Korean Ulsan, are participating.
+ What is being played for?
Almost 10 billion Swedish kronor will be distributed to the participating teams. The size of the sum depends on where the teams come from – where the European clubs get the most – and how far they get in the tournament. The winner will take home almost 1.2 billion kronor.
In addition to this, a further 2.4 billion kronor has been allocated, which will be distributed to club football around the world according to FIFA.
