The club world cup undefeated in 8 games, why is the Brazilian team so strong

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Wang Qinbo

Brazilian team won consecutive victories in the Club World Cup, and many people were surprised. This is actually the result of the high commercialization of European football. In the eyes of these people, the level of South American clubs must be lower than that of the Champions League and the top five leagues, and it is like a bottom in front of European teams.

The fact is not the case. In the 6 groups where the Baa team is located in this Club World Cup, except for Boca's Group C, which is led by Bayern (currently only Boca loses in South America), the other five groups are Brazilian teams + River Plate at the top. It can even be said that if the Brazilian team and Argentina River Plate perform poorly in the Club World Cup, such as collectively stopping in the quarterfinals, that would be a real upset. Because according to normal strength distribution, South American teams are fully capable of ensuring at least one place in the top 8 or even the top 4.

Brazilian team won 6 wins and 2 draws in the first two rounds of group stages and remained unbeaten, and led the teams.

Some "rational" analyses also agree with the low level of South American clubs. An important argument is that after Corinthian defeated Chelsea in 2012, the championship in this event has been monopolized by European teams. But this analysis ignores the fact that the 2017 South American Liberators Cup was reorganized, and the championship was produced from May to July in the past, becoming a full-year event. This means that the new Liberators Cup champion went to the Club World Cup almost without stopping to participate in the competition shortly after celebrating his victory.

With financial and manpower inferior to European teams, South American teams have maintained a certain competitiveness in the InterContinental Cup, Toyota Cup, and Club World Cup in the past. One very important reason is that they have enough time to prepare for the confrontation with European teams. It is said that at that time, the South American Football Federation restructured the Liberators Cup, making it a top-level and lower-level event with the South American Cup and was held throughout the year. In addition to commercial considerations, the winners of the Liberators Cup frequently complained. After winning the championship, European teams poached good players in the summer window and could not play in the Club World Cup with all their strength.

But the fact is that even if the South American Liberators Cup winners can maintain the championship lineup after the reform, the team's attitude of playing in the Club World Cup after celebrating the cup. River Plate in 2018, Palmeiras in 2020, and Flamenco in 2022 are all considered excellent Libertadores champions, but when they were in the Club World Cup, they were eliminated directly in the semi-finals, which seemed like they were using this to avoid being humiliated by European giants in the final.

Fluminense coach Renato Gaucho and captain Thiago Silva.

It is also worth noting that when the South American Liberators Cup winners show real fighting spirit and hope to challenge the European giants, their performance in the finals will often exceed expectations, especially those who think that South American clubs have become the bottom of the fish. In 2017, Renato Gaucho, who was eager to prove the value of Brazil's local coaches, led Gremio to lose 0-1 to Real Madrid. At that time, Real Madrid was unable to break through Gremio's goal in the sports game, and it was because Ronaldo scored a direct free kick to win. In 2019, Flamenco, coached by Jose Jesus, lost 0-1 to Liverpool in overtime. In 2021, Palmei lost to Chelsea 1-2 in time.

Why shouldn't South American clubs be underestimated? In fact, the simplest truth is: South American countries are poor, and most teams in South American are also poor, but the super wealthy families in the South American mainland are not poor. According to data from the Italian "Sports Finance" website, the three South American giants among the Club World Cup participating teams have annual revenues: Flamenco 233.8 million euros, Palmeiras 225.2 million, and River Plate 188.6 million. What does such revenue level mean? Of course, Flamenco, Palmeiras, and River Plate cannot compare with "billion clubs" like Real Madrid and Manchester City. However, in Europe, there are not so many clubs with annual revenues in the range of 180 to 240 million euros. They are basically quasi-giants or non-five league giants, such as Benfica (256 million), Porto (221 million), Ajax (200 million), Naples (230 million-230 million), and Frankfurt (190-220 million).

As for the other three South American teams, Boca Youth (126 million), Fluminense (110 million), and Botafogo (102 million), the European clubs corresponding to their revenue range are Real Sociedad, Brighton, Marseille, Atlanta, Sporting Lisbon, etc.

The question is: Since European clubs such as Sporting Lisbon, Atlanta, and Naples can challenge European super giants and even fail to lose in some competitions, why can't Flamenco, Palmeiras and River Plate expect the same record? Overall poverty in South American countries and football does not mean that the top clubs are terrible. There are several top giants in South America that even many European teams envy.

The first is that South American countries have a large population and a large fan base. For example, Flamenco has as many as 30 million fans and claims to be "we are a country." This allows the top South American giants to obtain income that even European giants cannot reach from competition tickets and member product sales. For example, the 80,000-person monument stadium in the riverbed can maintain 100% attendance continuously because 380,000 registered members are queuing up to watch the game.

Boca Youth has always been worried that the Candy Box Stadium has limited capacity, which cannot meet membership requirements and cannot increase revenue. Although Palmeiras is not as popular as the two giants Flamengo and Corinthian, its management has been well-managed in recent years, especially after changing Allianz Park to artificial turf, it held intensive concerts on non-match days, earning important additional income. The South American team's TV broadcast revenue is far from comparable to that of Europe. It is already quite remarkable to be able to reach the income level of European quasi-wealthy families in this way.

The second is the hematopoietic function of South American football. Unlike today, many European giants rely almost entirely on recruiting to build teams, South American giants generally have a complete youth training system and benefit from the nation's enthusiasm for football. There is a steady stream of talents, which not only can supplement the first team, but can even sell some new stars to European giants at high prices after packaging them, such as Mastantono of Riverbed, Enderick and Estewan of Palmeiras, and Renier and Vinicius of Flamenco, all sold to Real Madrid and Chelsea at considerable prices.

The third is the league competitiveness that fans are enthusiastically maintaining. Many people who have watched the Brazilian and Argentina leagues will be shocked by the hot atmosphere on the scene, which is closely related to the fandom of the fans. Especially in Brazil, if the team plays poorly, fans will definitely think that there is something wrong with the player's attitude (rather than other reasons), and even "teaching", slapping, and beating players are common. On the one hand, players are idols, and on the other hand, they also understand that they should explain to the fans that South American fans will not pursue stars in a civilized manner like Europeans.

Especially in the Libertadoes Cup and the Club World Cup, the enthusiasm of fans of the South American giants is far greater than that of Europeans. Even in the Champions League, the enthusiasm of European fans is hard to compare. Boca and River Plate fans sang in the song: "I am in love with the Liberator Cup." Flamengo fans sang "December 1981", praising Zico to lead the team to defeat Liverpool 3-0 in the Toyota Cup. "Now the Flamengo people have called out: win the world championship again!"

Flamengo, Botafogo and other Brazilian clubs have signed up for tens of millions of euros in recent years. Flamengo introduced Gerson from Rome in 2019 for 13 million euros, and in 2025, Botafogo bought the 1.98-meter-height central defender Yail Cunia from Santos, and also spent 12 million. Famous agent Frank Henuda told Le Parisien: "For centre-backs of this age, this money is huge. Few clubs in the Ligue 1 would spend so much money for a young man."

If you carefully observe Flamengo's lineup against Chelsea, you can find that its age structure even makes many European teams envious: the double midfielder is Pulpga and Jorginho, who are experienced in the five major leagues; among the two central defenders, Danilo is Flamengo's "picking up the bargain". If Allegri was still at Juventus, he would not have left so early. Jorginho and Danilo are the oldest starting against Chelsea, and are only 33 years old.

Flamenco's other central defender Leo Pereira, front midfielder de Alascaeta, and right forward Gerson. The first two have no experience in Europe. Gerson has played for Rome, Fiorentina and Marseille. Although these three are not valued by European giants, their technical style is very suitable for Brazilian teams, they are very dirty and "South America". And in the duel with European teams, such players often perform miraculous results.

At the same time, Flamenco also has a hot right-back Wesley Franza, who is in the transfer market. He is only 21 years old and is already a Brazilian international. European giants such as Juventus are competing for it, while Flamengo has a clear attitude: the bid is less than 35 million euros, no talks are allowed.

The South American giants have good hardware, but to achieve good results in the Club World Cup, good preparation and excellent coaches are still needed. The four Brazilian coaches participating in this competition represent different styles.

Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira is currently the coach with the longest coaching time in the Brazilian League, and has led the team to win two Liberators Cups. He is an important disseminator of Portuguese football in Brazil, and it is precisely because of his success with Joje Jesus that Brazil has caused the "Portuguese coaching craze" in recent years.

Flamenco coach Felipe Luis is considered to be one of the most coaching potential among Brazilian retired stars. He won the Brazil Cup after taking office midway last season. He has learned a lot of valuable experience from European football and has integrated well with Brazilian football. He may become a popular candidate for Atletico Madrid or Brazil's national team coach in the future.

Fluminense coach Renato Gaucho, who led Gremio to win the Copa Liberators in 2017, led the team to the semi-finals of Brazil and Copa Liberators many times. He was a super winger when he was a player, and he boasted of "original Brazilian football" (actually not so). He has many famous quotes, such as: "Brazilians who know football play football on the beach, and those who don't know football go to Europe to study." He regards this Club World Cup as an opportunity for Brazilian local coaches to clear their reputation.

Botaforgo's current coach Renato Paiva replaces Artur Jose who left office because of disagreement with the boss. He was once the head coach of Benfica youth training and also coached independently in the Ecuador Valley, a major youth training player in South America. He is known for his ability to promote newcomers. After taking over Botafogo in the middle of the season, he had a good record and led the team out of the decline and regained confidence.

As for the two Argentina teams, River Plate invited Galado to the Club World Cup and formed a lineup with many former internationals. Garrado is the best coach in the Copa Libertado in the past 10 years, especially in Cup competitions. After Palmeiras eliminated the Riverbed in the semi-finals in 2020, Abel Ferrera specifically thanked Galado after the game, saying that reading his autobiography has benefited a lot.

The only thing in poor condition is Boca Youth. In recent years, the club election has become an extension of the political struggle between the two factions in Argentina (President Mile supports the opposition, and the defeated presidential candidate Masa supports Riquelme). Riquelme was elected chairman based on his popularity, but his business management was chaotic. He had no choice but to invite the old coach Russo back, but in terms of the team's lineup and skills, except for the number of red and yellow cards that is expected to hit a record, Boca can hardly expect to achieve too much in the Club World Cup.