The host nation's national champions contest a play-off against the Oceania champions, from which the winner joins the champions of Asia, Africa and North America in the quarter-finals. The current format of the tournament involves seven teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation over a period of about two weeks the winners of that year's AFC Champions League ( Asia), CAF Champions League ( Africa), CONCACAF Champions League ( North America), Copa Libertadores ( South America), OFC Champions League ( Oceania) and UEFA Champions League ( Europe), along with the host nation's national champions, participate in a straight knock-out tournament. The winner of the Club World Cup receives the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and a FIFA World Champions certificate. In 2005, the Intercontinental Cup was merged with the FIFA Club World Championship, and in 2006, the tournament was renamed as the FIFA Club World Cup. It ran in parallel with the Intercontinental Cup, a competition played by the winners of the UEFA Champions League and the Copa Libertadores, from 2000 to 2004, with the champions of each tournament both recognised (in 2017) by FIFA as club world champions. The first FIFA Club World Championship took place in Brazil in 2000. Views differ as to the cup's prestige: it struggles to attract interest in most of Europe, and is the object of heated debate in South America.
It was not held from 2001 to 2004 due to a combination of factors, most importantly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL), but since 2005 it has been held every year, and has been hosted by Brazil, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Qatar.
The competition was first contested in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship. The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body.