Xinhua China
Morocco will host the 11th FIFA Club World Cup for the second consecutive year, a tournament which is held annually and features the champion clubs of each continent.
The tournament, starting on Wednesday, will feature five clubs who have never appeared in the competition before. San Lorenzo (South America), Cruz Azul (Concacaf), Western Sydney Wanderers (Asia), ES Setif (Africa) and Moghreb Tetouan (Host country) are the newcomers who will join the returning Real Madrid and Auckland City in the quest to succeed Bayern Munich as the champions.
In the opening of the games, Moghreb Tetouan, champion of the host country, will play against Auckland City FC (Oceania) at Moulay-Abdellah stadium in Rabat.
The losers will quit the competition and the winners will have a place in the quarter-finals, where they would face ES Setif of Algeria, who won the CAF Champions League.
San Lorenzo, the Copa Libertadores champions from Argentina, get a bye straight into the semi-finals and will face either Moghreb Tetouan, Auckland City or ES Setif.
The games will be played in two stadiums — Moulay Abdellah in the Moroccan capital Rabat and the Grand Stade of the touristic resort Marrakech from Dec. 10 to 20.
In an interview with the Moroccan news agency MAP, FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter said the tournament will be a great show of friendly competition bringing together best clubs in all continents.
