February 13 – Kai Havertz’s extra-time penalty strike crowned Chelsea World Champions with a 2-1 victory against Brazil’s Palmeiras in the final of the Club World Cup. The London club have now won every trophy available in the Roman Abramovich era.
The London club had never won the global crown, but after a night of tension and drama, they overcame a well-organised and stubborn Palmeiras to win the FIFA competition in Abu Dhabi. Abel Ferreira had set up his team to sit very deep, with a six-man rearguard, to absorb the pressure and counter.
The plan almost worked, his players responding well to his game plan. Lukaku however opened the scoring with a bullet header from close range. The South American champions equalised through a penalty from Raphael Veiga after a handball from Thiago Silva inside the box.
But Kai Havertz, who also scored the winner for The Blues in the Champions League final against Manchester City, had the last word, converting a 117th-minute penalty. It left Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich beaming. The Russian, who was banned from England over his entrepreneurial visa, attended the final alongside a slate of high-ranking football officials, including FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and AFC supremo Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa.
Havertz’s late spot-kick broke Palmeiras’ hearts. South America and Brazil have traditionally always accorded great importance to the Club World Cup and in years gone by the Intercontinental Cup. In 2012, Corinthians were the last South Americans to win the competition with a 1-0 victory against Chelsea in Yokohama.
The final wrapped the seven-team tournament that was hosted by the United Arab Emirates after Japan withdrew because of the global health pandemic. Egyptian giants Al Ahly finished third after defeating nine-man Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia 4-0 in a spectacular third-place playoff.
Earlier in the tournament, Al Ahly manager Pitso Mosimane criticised organizers for a lack of respect towards the African club. His team had to play without Egypt internationals against Monterrey in the quarterfinals because of a fixture clash with the Africa Cup of Nations final. At a news conference, the South African manager said: “How many times do Africans have to prove themselves? What is the standard? Why does Palmeiras start Club World Cup from the semi-finals? We beat them last year, what’s the difference? it is time for the African clubs to be respected.”
Al Hilal coach Leonardo Jardim echoed those sentiments when he said that “I’d like to give a warning to FIFA and I find it unfair some teams have to play four matches in eight days and other teams have to play two matches with their teams not rested. There should be better care with the match schedule to recover so teams from Asia and South America can have the ambition to win this cup.”
The competition holds prestige outside of Europe but not much within it. FIFA have not yet announced details on next year’s tournament.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has long wanted to expand the Club World Cup to a 24-team event, but the pandemic, as well as an apparent lack of commercial backing, stymied those plans.
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