The Confederation Cup- The World Cup Football’s “Dress Rehearsal”

FIFA’s Confederation Cup

As if FIFA wasn’t already busy enough, they have (since 1992) also hosted the Confederation Cup. This premiership football league pits eight teams into a highly prestigious tournament grid that only the elite teams even have a shot at getting into. These teams are comprised of the winners of the FIFA World Cup, the Asian Cup, African Cup of nations, Copa America, Gold Cup, Nations Cup, and the European Championship (basically all of the FIFA confederation championships), and the host country.

History of the FIFA Confederation Cup:

Originally created by Saudi Arabia (and dubbed the title of “King Fahd Cup”), the Confederation Cup began in 1992 and was repeated in 1995. It was taken over by FIFA in 1997 and it joined the group of premiership football tournaments, to be held every two years under the name of FIFA Confederation Cup. Starting in 2005 though, it was moved to be a four year tournament, being held the previous year of the World Cup.

The most successful team of the Confederation Cup is Brazil, having won the tournament three times (in 1997, 2005, and 2009). France comes up next with two victories (2001 and 2003).  The only other teams to have ever made the finalists are Argentina, Denmark, Mexico, Australia, Cameroon, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Since the Confederation Cup is unofficially labelled a “friendly tournament”, fan turnout is somewhat poor (being only half that of the World Cup) and football betting is even worse, since most gambling enthusiasts are focused on the next year’s World Cup. Many consider the Confederation Cup to only be a “dress-rehearsal” for the more prestigious tournaments.

Partakers of the Confederation Cup can look forward to at least four awards that, like other premiership football tournaments, are handed out at the end of the entire grid. The Golden Ball is given out based on who the media polls vote to be the player that is the most outstanding player of the football tourney. The Golden Shoe is awarded the one player that scores the most (in the event of a tie, whichever players took more in more assists). The FIFA Fair Play award is for the single team that, throughout the tournament, possessed the record of fair play. The final award, the Golden Glove, wasn’t introduced until the 2009 Confederation Cup and is given to the best goalkeeper.

While Britain may be the most successful team of the entire Confederation Cup, every team generally has an equal shot at the premiership football cup, and the few football betting participants will actually avoid the British team in the hopes of high pay-offs when a different team wins. This in itself shows how drastic the competition can differ while still providing close matches and quality sports entertainment.