The 2008 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth FIFA Club World Cup, a football tournament for the champion clubs from each of FIFA's six continental confederations. The tournament was held in Japan from 11 to 21 December 2008.
Defending champions Milan did not qualify, having been eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. The winners of that competition, Manchester United, won the Club World Cup for the first time, beating Gamba Osaka 5–3 in the semi-finals before a 1–0 win over LDU Quito in the final at the International Stadium in Yokohama on 21 December. It was United's second world title, following the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, which was also held in Japan. It was also the first edition in which the CONMEBOL representative did not hail from either Argentina or Brazil.
The fifth-place match, dropped for the 2007 tournament, was reintroduced for 2008, with the total prize money being increased by US$500,000 to US$16.5 million. The winners took away US$5 million, the losing finalists US$4 million, the third-placed team US$2.5 million, the fourth-placed team US$2 million, the fifth-placed team US$1.5 million, the sixth-placed team US$1 million and the seventh-placed team US$500,000.[1]
Host bids
On 13 August 2007, the Organising Committee for the FIFA Club World Cup recommended to the FIFA Executive Committee that Japan should host the 2008 tournament.[2] This was approved by the executive committee on 29 October 2007 during their meeting in Zürich, Switzerland.[3]
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