King Fahd Cup The tournament was originally organized by and held in
Saudi Arabia, contested in
1992 and
1995 by the Saudi national side and some continental champions. Contested as the King Fahd Cup (
Confederations Winners Cup or
Intercontinental Championship), it was named in honor of the then Saudi ruler who organized the tournament with the help of his
country's federation.
Confederations Cup era In 1997,
FIFA took over the organization of the tournament, named it the
FIFA Confederations Cup and staged the competition every two years and recognized the first two editions in 1997. , 2005 After 2005, it was held every four years, in the year prior to each
World Cup in the host country of the forthcoming World Cup (the 2001 edition was hosted in
South Korea and
Japan, before the quadrennial pattern was established). Considered a dress rehearsal for the World Cup it precedes, it used around half of the stadiums intended for use at the following year's competition and gave the host nation, which qualified for that tournament automatically, experience at a high level of competition during the two years. At the same time, participation was made optional for the South American and European champions. Generally, the host nation, the World Cup holders, and the six continental champions qualified for the competition. In those cases where a team meets more than one of the qualification criteria (such as the
2001 tournament where
France qualified as the World Cup champions and European champions), another team was invited to participate, often the runner-up in a competition that the extra-qualified team won. On four occasions teams have chosen not to participate in the tournament.
Germany did so twice,
in 1997 (replaced by
Euro 1996 runners-up
Czech Republic) and
in 2003 when Germany were awarded a place as the
2002 World Cup runners-up, replaced by the third-placed team
Turkey. World champions France declined a place in the
1999 Confederations Cup, replaced by
Brazil, the
1998 World Cup runners-up. Italy,
UEFA Euro 2000 runners up, declined their place in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. An earlier tournament that invited former World Cup winners, the
1980 Mundialito, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the first World Cup. The
Artemio Franchi Trophy, contested in 1985 and 1993 between the winners of the
Copa América and
UEFA European Championship, was another example of an earlier contest between football confederations. Both of these are considered by some to be a form of unofficial precursor to the Confederations Cup, although FIFA recognised only the 1992 tournaments onwards to be Confederations Cup winners.
2021 tournament and abolition The 2021 tournament was originally to be held in Qatar, the host country of the
2022 FIFA World Cup, as announced on 2 December 2010 after the country was awarded the
hosting rights of the
2022 FIFA World Cup. However, concerns arose surrounding Qatar's high temperatures during the summer period (which also led to calls for the World Cup to be moved from its traditional June–July scheduling to November–December). On 25 February 2015, this resulted in FIFA officially announcing that it would move the 2021 Confederations Cup to another country of the
Asian Football Confederation, so it could still be held during the traditional window of June/July 2021, without interrupting domestic leagues. As compensation, another FIFA tournament, potentially the 2021
FIFA Club World Cup, could be held in Qatar in November–December 2021, as the test event for the 2022 World Cup. In October 2017, FIFA divulged plans to abolish the Confederations Cup by 2021 and replace it with a quadrennial, 24-team
FIFA Club World Cup and move the latter tournament from December to June. On 15 March 2019, FIFA announced that the Confederations Cup would be abolished, with an expanded
FIFA Club World Cup taking place instead.
Present In July 2021, UEFA president
Aleksander Čeferin and CONMEBOL president
Alejandro Domínguez began efforts to launch a competition including the winners of the Copa America and the European Championship. The idea is to have the European Championship and Copa America both be played two years ahead of the World Cup, with the new tournament played a year before the World Cup in the nation that will host the World Cup. An edition of the tournament was considered for 2022, and on 1 June 2022, Argentina beat Italy in the
2022 Finalissima, a relaunch of the
CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions. ==Format==