The FIFA Club World Championship is a football (soccer) competition contested between the leading clubs from all 6 continental confederations.

The first competition took place in Brazil in January 2000. It was intended by FIFA to be a replacement for the Intercontinental Cup (also known as the Toyota Cup), which is contested annually in Tokyo, Japan by the champions of Europe and South America. No agreement was reached with the Toyota Cup's sponsors, and so the Toyota Cup went ahead on November 30 1999, with Manchester United beating Palmeiras 1-0.

The new tournament was not universally popular, but nevertheless a second edition was pencilled in for Spain in 2001, to feature 12 teams. This was cancelled owing to a combination of factors, most importantly the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner ISL . It was then intended to hold the event in 2003, but this also failed to happen. FIFA eventually agreed terms with the Toyota Cup to merge the two competitions, and the first installment of the relaunched World Club Championship is scheduled to be held in Tokyo between December 11 and December 18 2005.

2000 tournament

The clubs invited to the 2000 tournament were:

Matches were played in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The teams were organised in 2 groups of 4 teams, with the top team in each group going through to the final (with the second-placed teams contesting a third-place playoff). Corinthians were the eventual winners, beating their Brazilian compatriots Vasco da Gama 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.

Manchester United's participation was controversial, as they insisted on being allowed to sit out the 1999-2000 FA Cup (of which they were the reigning champions) in order to travel to Brazil. The Football Association reluctantly agreed, partly to assist England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

2005 tournament

The 2005 tournament will feature only the 6 continental champions, to be decided during 2004. The competition will consist of a qualifying round, featuring the champions of the 4 "weaker" continents, who will then be joined by the European and South American champions in the semi-finals.