02.02.21 - Palmeiras não tem mundial

Hallooooo,

Hope all well Med-side. Not much to report here, other than a trip to see Taynah and Rafa's new flat in the centre of town (with lashings of hand-smoked steak, which I was very impressed with), and another to pick up Zila and dip her in our pool for a bit. New compilation too. 

Having said that, Palmeiras won the Copa Libertadores final (the South American equivalent of the Champions League) on Saturday, so now seems as good a time as any to analyse today's phrase of the week: "Palmeiras não tem mundial".  

The "mundial" is the FIFA Club World Cup, which has been running officially since 2000, and pits the champions of each continental footballing body against each other, to determine who will be "world champion" each season. So this year, Palmeiras will represent South America, Bayern Munich will represent Europe having won the Champions League in August, and teams from Africa, Asia, North America and the Middle East will be making up the numbers too. The tournament should have taken place in Qatar in late 2020 but was postponed for obvious reasons. 

Palmeiras' rivals from across town, São Paulo FC and Corinthians, have both won the Cup in recent history (in 2005, and 2000 & 2013 respectively), but Palmeiras haven't - hence "Palmeiras não tem mundial". They have, however, won the Intercontinental Cup which took place in Rio in 1951 along similar lines (and included Nice FC among the participants!). 

So the club does have some sort of claim to the title of World Champions, albeit one that is not officially recognised by FIFA, who only consider the post-2000 champions to be canon (FIFA dismissed the 1951 tournament as "outside their jurisdiction" but didn't shut it down, which some interpret as tacit approval).

This technicality has led to a fierce debate among fans, spawned countless memes, and is the focus of much derision and pedantry judging by my weekly football outings and the corresponding Whatsapp group, which is made up mainly of Corinthians and Palmeiras fans and can get very heated. It is often used as a one-size-fits-all rebuttal whenever any of the many Palmeiras fans get too big for their boots, but this tactic often triggers yet another re-treading of whether or not Palmeiras were ever world champions.

It took me a long time to grasp the extent of this rift, mainly because no one in Europe really cares about the Club World Cup, typically viewing it as a series of glorified friendlies, and a money-spinning exercise which often distracts teams from more important goals back home.  Liverpool are the current world champions, but winning the Champions League and the Premier League either side of the tournament obviously meant a lot more. Whereas for Latin American teams, the Cup is the only opportunity to play the more prestigious teams from Europe in a competitive setting, so victory is considered to be the ultimate achievement.

None of which looks set to change any time soon, as Palmeiras will no doubt get absolutely destroyed by Bayern's second-string team in an empty, air-conditioned stadium later this month. But despite my family ties to Corinthians I am secretly rooting for them, if only to banish the spectre of "Palmeiras não tem mundial" forever, so we can all move on with our lives.

Lesson over. Speak soon!

/WallStreetFreds