The Confederations Cup is a football competition between national teams. It is held every four years by FIFA. Here participate the winners of the world championships on the continents, held by six confederations, the team of the host country and the one who wins the world championship. Understanding what the Confederation Football Cup is, it will be easy to understand that eight teams are participating at once.

The meaning of the competition

If the winner of the World Championship is considered the winner of the competition on the continent, the finalist is invited to participate in the tournament. In 2005, an unusual situation happened. Then Brazil was the world champion and won the continental battle, and hosted the German Cup. Free 8th place in the list of teams was offered to Argentina, which at that time was the silver medalist of the American Championship.

How it all started

The origin of the cup is due to the competition of the King Fahd Cup, held in Saudi Arabia. In 1997, the first Confederations Cup was officially organized and approved by FIFA, and since then it has been held every 2 years. The host of the Championship is the team from the country that won the world competition last year. Since 2005, the Cup has been held every four years in the host country of the World Cup, a year before it starts. Thus, the Confederations Cup is a kind of rehearsal before the World Cup.

What will happen and who will come to the 2017 FIFA Confederation Cup?

To date, all 8 participants in the competition are still unknown. While the official list contains

• Russia is the host of the Championship
• Germany is the world champion
• Chile is the holder of the American Cup;
• Australia is the first team of the Asian Cup
• Mexico is the owner of the CONCACAF prize

In the summer it is necessary to learn about two participants of the competition. These are the winners of the Oceania Cup and the famous Euro 2016. The last participant will be determined after the African Cup of Nations. If the winner of the Euro is Germany, the finalist of the continental championship will be its replacement.

Where and most importantly when will the game take place?

In 2017, the Confederations Cup is scheduled to be held from June 17 to July 2. All matches are planned in Kazan, both capitals, as well as at the Sochi stadium of the Fisht Olympic facility. The tournament draw was scheduled for November 26, and it will be held in Kazan.

Tournament bracket

1. Group "A" - the uterus - the Russian team.
2. Group "B" - the uterus - the German team.

The grid consists of two groups of 4 teams. All those who take the first two places in the groups go to the semi-finals. The losers of the semi-finals will fight for third place, so that the winners will meet in the final battle.

International Federation of Football Associations - FIFA (in French - Federation Internationale de Football Association, and abbreviated as FIFA)- managing all world football structure. The headquarters of FIFA is located in the Swiss city of Zurich. At the moment (2011), the president of this organization is Joseph Blatter.

The need for a single organization to govern all football in the world became apparent in the early 20th century with the increase in the number and popularity of international football competitions. Initially, the process was led by the English Football Federation. But in the end, it fell to seven other European countries to found FIFA.

And so, on May 21, 1904, FIFA was created in Paris - an organization designed to unite national football federations and promote international competitions. It was the place of foundation that caused the French language to be used in the generally accepted full and abbreviated names.

The first president of FIFA was elected the Frenchman Robert Guerin, which looked quite natural, because it was he who most ardently and consistently advocated the creation of this organization and he himself was a very versatile person. Guerin combined the work of the president of the French federation and sports journalist for the newspaper "Le Matin". In addition, he was a graduate engineer. It was Guerin who first began to "push" the idea of ​​​​holding international championships - first at the club level, and then among teams, although his tenure as head FIFA did not last long - just over two years.

By this time, international contacts (with the exception of Great Britain with its four independent federations) were minimal and carried out only through the efforts of individual enthusiasts. The first competitions under the auspices of FIFA were held in 1906. However, FIFA did not immediately achieve much success in organizing competitions. This fact, combined with a number of economic factors, led to Guerin's replacement as president by Daniel Woolfall of England.

Lyrical digression

At the founding congress in 1904, the ninth paragraph of the Charter, the delegates wrote: "FIFA has the exclusive right to organize international championships." The very next year, at the FIFA Congress, the Dutchman Carl Anton Willem Hirschman put forward a proposal to hold a club championship with fifteen participants - one from the country. According to Hirschman's plan, they were to be divided into four groups:

• Group 1: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
• Group 2: Belgium, France, Holland, Spain
• Group 3: Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary
• Group 4: Denmark, Germany, Sweden

Imagine, the Champions League could have been born not in 1991, but in 1905! But the trouble is that Hirschman's plans were ahead of their time. The deadline for submitting applications for participation in the championship was determined on August 31, 1905. That day has come, but not a single application has been submitted so far! Unable to endure such a deafening embarrassment, Guerin at the next, third FIFA Congress on June 4, 1906, resigned as president.

The next FIFA-sponsored competition, the football tournament at the 1908 London Olympics, was more successful, although there were some problems with the participation of professional footballers in the Olympics.

Guerin's successor, as mentioned above, was the Englishman Daniel Burley Woolfall, a government official from Blackburn. Woolfall, like almost all of his countrymen, considered England "the navel of the Earth", and the major victories of British teams over non-British ones once again convinced him of this. The timid attempts of his subordinates to talk about the international championship again were choked by Woolfall in the bud.

This continued until 1918, when the situation changed dramatically. First, Woolfall died on October 24th. Secondly, the First World War ended. The British, as victors, demanded that sanctions be extended against the states that were defeated in the war and on football. However, this did not find support, and then four British federations withdrew from FIFA in protest.

For 29 months, the International Association remained without a president, until Jules Rimet was elected to this post on April 1, 1921, who had proven himself well during the 1920 Olympic tournament. It was he who managed to realize the idea of ​​holding world championships and thereby immortalize his name. Jules Rimet led a very competent policy. He felt that the time had come for the establishment of a World Cup in which all football players - amateurs and professionals - could participate.

On May 29, 1928, as expected, a decision of historic proportions was made. On this day, the delegates of the next FIFA Congress, who gathered in Amsterdam, by a majority of votes (27 against 5) voted for the establishment of the World Cup, the first draw of which, at the suggestion of compatriot Jules Rimet, Henri Delaunay, was to take place already in 1930.

In Amsterdam, everything was agreed, except for one thing: who will be the owner of the first Cup. This issue was postponed for another year and became the main item on the agenda of the next FIFA Congress, which took place on May 18-19, 1929 in Barcelona. Five European countries (Italy, Sweden, Holland, Hungary, Spain) and Uruguay put forward their candidacies. Seeing this state of affairs, the representatives of the Old World unanimously withdrew their applications, leaving Uruguay in splendid isolation. Under a "long standing ovation", as the press of that time testifies, this country was elected as the organizer of the first World Cup among national teams.

As for the trophy for awarding the world champion, it was made by the French jeweler Abel Lafleur by order of FIFA. A completely gold (1.800 grams) figurine of the ancient Greek goddess of victory Nike with arms raised up served faithfully for 40 years until it was conquered forever by the Brazilians, and after that it “stretched out” for another 13 years until it became a victim of the attackers who kidnapped her.

In 1974 the winners world championship- the German national team - was awarded a new Cup, which is played to this day. Champions receive an exact gilded copy of the Cup, and the Cup itself is movable and, unlike its predecessor, will never be awarded forever.

Other tournaments under the auspices of FIFA

In addition to the world championships and football tournaments of the Olympic Games, FIFA holds world championships for 17-year-old football players and youth world championships. In addition, a new tournament called the Confederations Cup has recently been established, which is fought every two years by the winners of regional championships plus world champions and tournament organizers. A year before the World Cup, this tournament is held at the arenas of the future hosts of the World Cup and serves as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming world football forum.

With the development of women's football, FIFA began to hold the Women's World Cup. The first such tournament was held in 1991. In addition, the Women's Youth World Championship has been held since 2002. The Junior Women's World Championship began its history in 2008.

The only major club competition is the FIFA Club World Cup. It was conceived as an extension of the Intercontinental Cup (competition between the club champions of Europe and South America, which bore different names in different years) to a tournament with the participation of club champions from all continents. The tournament, which did not generate much interest in 2000 and 2002, was soon canceled, but was reinstated in a modified form in Japan in 2005.

FIFA also administers tournaments in several team sports based on football. In particular - beach soccer and futsal.

FIFA structure

FIFA is divided into six Confederations that manage football competitions at the level of continents and regions around the world. National federations are both members of FIFA and their regional Confederation in order to participate in competitions under the auspices of FIFA. Usually a country is a member of the Confederation of its region, however, there are some exceptions.

The list of regional associations is as follows:

• AFC - Asian Football Confederation - Asia and Australia
• CAF - African Football Confederation - Africa
• CONMEBOL - South American Football Confederation - South America
• CONCACAF - North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation - North America and Central America
• OFC - Oceania Football Confederation - Oceania
• UEFA - Union of European Football Associations - Europe

Countries whose territory is located between Europe and Asia themselves determined which confederation they should enter. Therefore, Russia, Turkey and Kazakhstan (until 2001 - in the AFC) are members of UEFA. Israel has also been a member of UEFA since 1994 after years of boycott by its neighbors in the Middle East. The last country to join UEFA was Montenegro in 2007.

Guyana and Suriname have always been members of CONCACAF, despite the fact that these countries are geographically located in South America.

Australia has been allowed to become a member of the AFC instead of the OFC since 2006. The Australians have long sought to pass under the auspices of the Asian Confederation. The fact is that the Australian team is an order of magnitude stronger than all the other teams in Oceania. Due to this disproportion, Oceania has never been given a direct place in the World Cup finals, and the Australians have been forced time after time to defend the right to play in the final in the play-offs with teams from other continents. And they traditionally lost in these butt games. It is ironic that Australia did manage to reach the 2006 World Cup final by beating Uruguay in the play-offs on penalties just months after the move to Asia was finally approved by all authorities.

In total, FIFA includes 208 national federations. The FIFA national teams rating is updated every month and determines the places of the teams depending on their success in international competitions at all levels, as well as friendly matches. There is a similar rating of FIFA women's teams, updated quarterly.

For the first time, Saudi Arabia hosted the King Fahd Cup - a tournament with the participation of the champions of four confederations - South America (Argentina), North America (USA), Africa (Ivory Coast) and Asia (Saudi Arabia).

The second tournament for the King Fahd Cup was organized in Riyadh, which was already held in an expanded format with the participation of six teams. This time, the best team in Europe, the Danish team, as well as the Asian champions from Japan, took part in it.

The Confederations Cup is again being held in Saudi Arabia, but for the first time under the auspices of the International Football Federation (FIFA). The number of participants increases to eight - world champions Brazilians and the best team of Oceania - the Australian team are invited. The tournament is held in a new format, which has survived to this day - the teams are divided into two groups, the two best go to the semi-finals.

The fourth Confederations Cup was held in Mexico and ended with the victory of the hosts. The Mexican team is the only participant in the 2017 tournament to have previously won the trophy.

For the first time, the Confederations Cup became a test tournament for the World Cup and was held a year before it in South Korea and Japan. The trophy was won by the French team, who came to the tournament as world and European champions. The final was held in Yokohama, Japan, and Patrick Vieira scored the only goal in the match against the Tricolors against Japan.

France organized the sixth Confederations Cup, during which a tragedy occurred - in the semifinal match between the national teams of Cameroon and Colombia, midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe of Africans died of a heart attack.

Since this year, the Confederations Cup has been played every four years in the host country of the next World Cup. At the tournament in Germany, the Brazilians won their second title, who never gave this trophy to anyone else. However, the Brazilians will not compete in the 2017 tournament - they are neither world champions nor South American champions.

In June 2008, the organizers of the Confederations Cup in South Africa were forced to exclude the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth from the list of hosting the tournament, which simply could not be completed by the next summer. As a result, the stadium was opened only in June 2009.

The Confederations Cup is held in South Africa and again ends with the victory of the Brazilian team, which played in the rank of champion of South America. The Brazilians won all five matches, including the final against the US team in Johannesburg - 3:2.

Russia gets the right to host the 2018 World Cup and, accordingly, the 2017 Confederations Cup. The Russian team, as a representative of the host country, becomes the first participant in the tournament, making its debut at the Confederations Cup. In addition to the Russian team, the teams of Portugal and Chile will debut at the upcoming tournament.

The Confederations Cup is held in Brazil and ends with the third consecutive victory of the Pentacampeons. However, the Brazilian team again cannot repeat its success at the World Cup in a year - so far no one has managed to win both the Confederations Cup and the subsequent world championship.

Having defeated the team of Argentina in the final of the World Cup at the Maracana (1:0 after extra time), the German team became the second participant in the 2017 Confederations Cup after the Russian team. Four-time world champions and three-time European champions, the Germans played only twice in the Confederations Cup, showing the best result in the 2005 home tournament, where they took third place.

The draw for the Confederations Cup took place in Kazan, which divided eight participants into two groups. Russia, Mexico, Portugal and New Zealand will play in group A, while Germany, Chile, Australia and the African champion, who at that time was not yet known at that time, will play in group B.

The Cameroon national team defeats the Egyptian team in the African Cup final (2: 1), becoming the last participant in the Confederations Cup. Cameroonians took part in similar tournaments in 2001 and 2003, in the second case reaching the final.

CUP
CONFEDERATIONS
2017

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A tournament where the strongest teams from their continents perform. We will try to tell you what the Confederations Cup is, how it is held, and what will happen to it in the future.

As mentioned above, the championship will be held only in four cities, it is noteworthy that all of them are, to one degree or another, the capitals of Russia, these are:

• Kazan
• Moscow

Sochi, the Olympic capital of the country, received this status thanks to the Winter Olympic Games held here in 2014.

The capital of Tatarstan, moreover, is considered the third most important city in Russia, after St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg, the former capital of Russia, was founded and developed by Peter the Great. Currently, Peter is called the Northern capital.

Moscow, no comment, has long been the only political capital of the country.

What is the Confederations Cup

Let's move on to the main question of today's material, what is the Confederations Cup? The Confederations Cup, a young tournament under the auspices of FIFA, began its existence as a commercial championship held with the fabulous money of Arab sheikhs. Over time, the international federation liked the championship, and it began to be held on a regular basis.

The composition of the participants, in its current form, since 1997, is selected as follows:

• Host country of the Confederations Cup
• CAF African Cup winner
• America's Cup winner CONMEBOL
• CONCACAF Gold Cup Winner
• OFC Nations Cup triumphant
• AFC Asian Cup winner
• UEFA Euro triumphant

There are cases when the world champion and the champion of the continent are the same team, then the team that played in the final of the continental championship is invited to the tournament.

Tournament Format

To date, the composition of the Confederations Cup 2017 is fully known, and during the draw held in Kazan in 2016, we learned the composition of the groups:

Group A

• New Zealand
• Mexico

Group B

• Germany
• Australia

First, teams play a group stage where points are awarded in the standard way. That is, 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. The teams that take the first two places in their groups go to the semi-finals. The losers in the semi-finals play a repechage match for third place in Moscow, while the winners play the final match in St. Petersburg. Recall that the Confederations Cup 2017 will be held from June 17 to July 2.

The Confederations Cup does not play any additional tickets to the World Cup, it is mostly a commercial and training event that helps teams and host cities to better prepare for the World Cup.

You got the first idea of ​​what the Confederations Cup is. Now let's talk about its historical part.

History of the Confederations Cup

Above, we have already said that the tournament began with Saudi Arabia, where since 1992 a tournament called the King Al-Fahd Cup has been held, teams from Saudi Arabia and the USA took part in it. Then, the current world champion did not participate in the tournament, only the winners of their continental championships played. With an enviable margin, the team of Argentina with Gabriel Batistuta in attack won the tournament.

The next draw took place in 1995, it was again hosted by Saudi Arabia, this time 6 teams took part in the tournament, the hosts acted as organizers, and Asia was represented, for the first time a team from Europe took part - Denmark. Nigeria and Argentina also took part in the tournament. This time, the teams were divided into two groups, where the future finalists were determined. The amazing format of the tournament made it possible for the first time in history to hold a penalty shoot-out right during the group stage, as happened in the Denmark-Mexico match. Thus, Denmark reached the final, where they managed to create another sensation, and beat Argentina.

1997 was the year of the tournament's transformation. The idea of ​​holding a championship where the strongest teams in the world compete attracted FIFA, and they began to hold a tournament under their own name. Despite this, the first official draw of the Confederations Cup took place all in the same. Then the tournament finally took on a modern shape, unfortunately, the current European champions, the Germans, refused to play in it, citing an inconvenient calendar, so the Czech Republic went from UEFA to defend the honor of the continent. Brazil participated for the first time and brought a fighting force, which was the cause of many devastating victories. Australia was defeated 6-0 in the final.

Time passed, what is the Confederations Cup, ceased to intrigue ordinary fans. Therefore, the organizers decided to make a simulator for the World Cup out of the tournament. Run new technical innovations on it, check the readiness of cities and stadiums. For the first time, the championship was held in the host country of the future world championship in 2001, they were Japan and. Since then, with the exception of the 2003 Cup in France, the Confederations Cup has been held exclusively in the host countries of the World Cup. That was in 2005, 2009 and 2013, and it will be the same in 2017.

What will happen next

FIFA has repeatedly stated that the Confederations Cup needs to be reformed, in the near future we may be left without the Continents Cup at all, and this is sad. He fell in love with the fans. In many ways, this was facilitated by a change in leadership in the international football federation. The current president, Gianni Infantino, is a true reformer; unlike Joseph Blatter, he is not an "Old Believer" and is trying to introduce new technologies and formats into modern football. Whether this is good or bad, we will find out very soon.

You have learned what the Confederations Cup is, it will be a shame if the Russian tournament becomes the last in its history. It is necessary to show that the Russian Confederations Cup will be the best championship in history!

International Football Federation
FIFA (Russian FIFA)

Date of FIFA formation- May 21, 1904. The International Football Organization was born in the capital of France - Paris. Its main function is to guide all world football. Under the auspices of this structure, the main football tournaments on the planet are held: the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Women's World Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup, the FIFA Youth World Cup, the FIFA Youth World Cup, the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the World Beach Championship. FIFA football.

The development of football on the planet was facilitated by television and radio broadcasts, therefore, today the number FIFA members outnumbered the membership of the United Nations. The income of the International Football Organization comes from the football TV market, bold marketing and sales of football products, symbols, paraphernalia, etc.

Under the auspices of FIFA in 1930, the first world championship among national teams was held, which was decided to be held every four years. There was a break in the world championships once, during the Second World War.

IN FIFA squad There are six confederations:
1. AFC - Asian Football Confederation (Asia and Australia).
2. CAF - African Football Confederation (Africa).
3. CONMEBOL - South American Football Confederation (South America).
4. CONCACAF - Football Confederation of North, Central America, Caribbean (North and Central America).
5.OFC - Oceania Football Confederation (Oceania).
6. UEFA - Union of European Football Associations (Europe).

It is accepted that countries are members of the Confederation of their continent, but there are exceptions. So Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkey, whose territories are located on the area of ​​two continents (Europe and Asia), have chosen membership in UEFA. Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia also expressed their desire to play under the auspices of the Union of European Football Associations. In 1994, after a protest from the countries of the Middle East, Israel also received membership in UEFA. Guyana and Suriname, located in South America, are members of CONCACAF, and Australia is in the AFC. Today FIFA members are 208 national federations.