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Flick savours historic World Cup double The players of FC Bayern Muenchen throw their coach Head coach Hansi Flick of FC Bayern Muenchen in the air.

The players of FC Bayern Muenchen throw their coach Head coach Hansi Flick of FC Bayern Muenchen in the air.

Hansi Flick has led FC Bayern München to FIFA Club World Cup glory
2014 World Cup winner as assistant coach, 2020 triumph as head coach
Hugely influential in 2014 World Cup success

By winning the FIFA Club World Cup™ final, Hansi Flick not only made history with FC Bayern München by matching Barcelona's record of six titles. He also set an individual best-mark: the 55-year-old became the first person to win both the Club World Cup (since 2000) and the FIFA World Cup™ as coach, having done so in 2014 as Joachim Low's assistant. "Congratulations to my team," Flick said after the final. "They have completed a historical feat, they have won six titles in one season. Even for the successful club that is FC Bayern München, this was the most successful season ever. The team played outstandingly. The win was never in danger, we dominated and deservedly won the final. "It was very difficult for me as well, we were all at the limit, the same goes for me at the touchline. The match against Tigres was on eye-level, even though we dominated. They deserved to be in this final." Although Flick, a midfielder in his playing days, lifted the Bundesliga title four times with Bayern and represented Germany at youth level, he never earned a senior cap for his country. After the 2006 World Cup he was recruited as assistant to Low, himself newly appointed as head coach. The pair formed a harmonious duo from the outset, and although Flick kept a low profile in public, within the Germany set-up he worked independently in many areas. To the outside world, this became particularly clear at the 2014 World Cup: whereas Low had previously afforded set-piece training little priority at earlier tournaments due to time restraints, Flick insisted on making it a central topic in Brazil. "We wanted to emphasise the value of set-pieces again, especially at such an extreme tournament," said Flick at the time, having sought advice from dead-ball experts in the Bundesliga. Low jokingly bet his assistant an evening meal that Germany would not score any goals from set-pieces at Brazil 2014. Yet en route to the country’s fourth world title, Low’s charges ultimately scored four times from free-kicks or corners, including the equalising goal at 2-2 in the group game against Ghana, the only goal of the match in the quarter-finals against France, and the all-important opener in the semi-finals against Brazil. "We practiced it intensively, sacrificed training time for it,” said Flick at the time. “Jogi will pay, so I'm looking forward to this meal." It was an expense Low would certainly have been happy to incur. Following that triumph, Flick worked as an official at both the DFB and Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim before joining Bayern as Niko Kovac's assistant for the 2019/20 season. When he succeeded Kovac as head coach in November 2019, it was the prelude to an unprecedented period of success, that included a 32-match unbeaten run in all competitions, as well as glory in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, DFL Supercup and now the FIFA Club World Cup. FC Bayern München coach Hansi Flick with the UEFA Champions League trophy 2020

FC Bayern München coach Hansi Flick with the UEFA Champions League trophy 2020

This success was no coincidence, with Flick radically changing Bayern's game after taking over. He implemented far greater intensity when pressing, a higher defensive line and, together with his staff, prepared his team in the best possible way for the final phase of the Champions League during the suspension of play caused by the pandemic. In doing so, he was always mindful of the need for loyalty from his players, and proved himself to be an empathetic and even-handed man-manager. "Right from the start, he created a very good atmosphere in the team and gave us a lot of confidence. We had the feeling we were unbeatable," said Joshua Kimmich. Brazil’s Tite won the Club World Cup in 2002 with Corinthians and, as Brazil’s head coach, could lift the World Cup title in 2022. Zinedine Zidane was triumphant at France 1998 as a player, and won the Club World Cup with Real Madrid in 2016 and 2017. It is by no means out of the question that he could take charge of France one day and steer them to another World Cup triumph. However, this evening, it was Flick who did it first. (from FIFA.com News)

Gignac v Lewandowski: A shootout between legends Andre-Pierre Gignac and Robert Lewandowski

Bayern Munich face Tigres in Thursday’s FIFA Club World Cup final
Robert Lewandowski and Andre-Pierre Gignac were semi-final heroes
Stats, quotes and golazos feature as we profile the two strikers

Can FC Bayern München emulate the 2009/10 Barcelona and complete one of the greatest achievement’s in football history? Can Tigres UANL cause the biggest shock in FIFA Club World Cup™ final history? We’ll find out on Thursday, but one thing we know for certain is that both teams are indebted to 30-something, foreign goal machines. On the eve of the showdown, we spotlight Robert Lewandowski and Andre-Pierre Gignac.

The quotes

"I think if we win this Club World Cup it would complete one of the biggest historical achievements in all of football. Not just for Bayern or for Germany, but it would be one of the biggest historical achievements from all over the world." Robert Lewandowski “Andre-Pierre Gignac is fundamental for Tigres. He dictates the pace of the game. Technically he dazzles me. He leads the team. [He knows] when to speed up and slow down play. He’s decisive. It’s not easy to stop him scoring penalties.” Kaka

They almost didn’t make it

Lewandowski

“His legs were so thin. I kept telling him that unless he ate more bacon sandwiches and put some weight on he may never make it, but the years passed and his legs remained like sticks.” Those were the words of Krzysztof Sikorski, the coach of the youth team Lewandowski played for from the ages of eight to 16. It was perhaps the reason the forward started out in only the Polish fifth flight and, even though he was subsequently added to Legia Warsaw’s youth ranks, he was released without ever making the first-team squad for being too skinny (he’s certainly ripped up that notion). Lewandowski was told to give up football but he “just loved watching Thierry Henry and was determined to be like him”. So, he worked his way up from the Polish third tier to the second to the first, where he established himself as its standout performer and inspired Lech Poznan to their first Ekstraklasa crown in 17 years. Oh, and he's no longer skinny!

Gignac

“I was told that if I couldn’t make it at a club that was heading for the [fourth division] and whose financial problems meant they couldn’t buy any players, then I had no future in football.” Gignac was released from small-time, hometown club Martigues as a 16-year-old and urged to invest in his academic education. But he desperately clinged to his footballing one and, two years later, made a dream professional debut for Lorient in Ligue 2, rising from the bench and quickly scoring the winner. It didn’t help establish him at the club and he duly found himself on loan at Pau in the French third tier. After a forgettable first season at Toulouse, however, his second term saw him finish as Ligue 1’s 24-goal leading marksman, comfortably clear of closest challengers Karim Benzema and Guillaume Hoarau.

Tigres' all-time top scorers

Bayern's all-time top scorers

Superheroes in green Palmeiras in 1996

Palmeiras face Tigres in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals
We look back at some of their best-ever sides
Ademir, Edmundo, Rivaldo and Marcos feature

“I think it’s been incredible, but we want to make it historic,” Gabriel Menino of Palmeiras’s 2020 season shortly before the Copa Libertadores final. “I want to go down in the history of this club. When I’m at the club [headquarters] I look at the photos of legends who have made history at the club and I think, ‘I want to see my photo there’.” As O Verdão get set to shoot for FIFA Club World Cup™ glory, we look at five of the legendary sides whose photos are emblazoned across the walls of their green house.

Global glory for 'The Big Green'

Year: 1951 Superhero: Liminha Heroes: Fabio Crippa, Waldemar Fiume, Canhotinho, Jair Rosa Pinto, Rodrigues. Coach: Ventura Cambon A world championship had been dreamed of and discussed for years by some of football’s foremost shot-callers – Jules Rimet, Ottorino Barassi and Stanley Rous among them – and was finally scheduled for 1951 in Brazil, which had . The eight-team competition involved some of Europe’s top teams, Uruguayan behemoths Nacional and Brazilian duo Vasco da Gama and Palmeiras, who qualified as Rio-Sao Paulo Tournament winners. The favourites were Juventus, who boasted an exceptional attack featuring Karl Aage Hansen, Karl Aage Praest, John Hansen and Giampiero Boniperti, and Vasco, who supplied eight members of Brazil’s World Cup squad the previous year. The duo’s status as favourites was strengthened in the group stage, with the Carioca colossuses thrashing Sporting Lisbon and Austria Vienna 5-1 and the Turin titans thumping Palmeiras 4-0. The Paulista powerhouses, however, had other ideas and, brushing aside injury blows, beat Vasco 2-1 over 180 minutes in the semi-finals and stunned Juve 1-0 in the first leg of the final. Rio de Janeiro was packed on the day of the decider, with a reported 10,000 Italians cramming into its hotels, certain Juventus would emerge triumphant. Yet Liminha, a 21-year-old who had began the tournament on the bench, helped set up the first equaliser and scored a late, title-clinching goal in a 2-2 draw in front of over 100,000 at the Maracana.

The Football Academy

Years: 1960-73 Superhero: Ademir da Guia Heroes: Julinho, Djalma Santos, Djalma Dias, Dudu, Cesar Maluco, Luis Pereira, Emerson Leao, Leivinha. Main coaches: Filpo Nunez, Aymore Moreira, Mario Travaglini, Osvaldo Brandao Despite the presence of Pele’s Santos, and other magnificent sides, Palmeiras incredibly won six Brazilian titles during those halcyon days, as well as reaching two Libertadores finals. Extraordinarily, their entire squad – as well as their coach, his backroom staff and the club’s physios and masseurs – represented Brazil in a 3-0 victory over Uruguay in 1965. Ademir da Guia, ‘The Divine One’, is incontestably the greatest player in Verdão history and one of the greatest Brazilians of all time, while ‘The Football Academy’ is considered one of South America’s finest-ever teams. “People raved about Guardiola’s Barcelona. That’s what we did decades earlier. We kept the ball for four, five minutes. Every touch was impeccable, every pass was perfect. We enchanted even opposition fans.” Dudu

A double-double

Years: 1993-94 Superheroes: Edmundo, Rivaldo Heroes: Cleber, Roberto Carlos, Cesar Sampaio, Flavio Conceicao, Mazinho, Zinho, Edilson, Evair Coach: Vanderlei Luxemburgo Palmeiras began 1993 having gone 17 years without a state championship and 20 without a Brazilian one. A stunning, Zinho-inspired 4-0 win over arch-enemies Corinthians, in front of 105,000 in the Morumbi, ended the drought with the Paulistao trophy, before the assists of Roberto Carlos and brilliance of Edmundo propelled them to Brasileirao glory. O Verdão comfortably defended their regional crown before signing Rivaldo in August 1994. He formed a devastating double act with Edmundo, which helped Palmeiras finish the regular season as easily the top team and defeat Corinthians in the Brasileirao final. “Playing against Edmundo meant you were already starting 1-0 down. But Edmundo and Rivaldo together, it made you feel sorry for opponents.” Cleber

The ultimate thrill ride

Year: 1996 Superheroes: Djalminha, Rivaldo Heroes: Velloso, Cleber, Cafu, Flavio Conceicao, Muller, Luizao. Coach: Vanderlei Luxemburgo Gone were several stars of their 1993 and ’94 conquests. Back at the controls, however, was ‘Luxa’. He would form one of the most spellbinding sides the sport has ever seen. A frightening threat of that intent came in the January. Borussia Dortmund were the reigning Bundesliga champions, were leading the race to defend their crown, and would soon be European champions when they travelled to Brazil for the Copa Euro-America, a competition jointly organised by CONMEBOL and UEFA. Ottmar Hitzfeld sent out winners Stefan Reuter, Andreas Moller and Karl-Heinz Riedle, as well as Stephane Chapuisat and that year’s Ballon d'Or winner Matthias Sammer, to seize the trophy. Instead, they were stunningly decrypted by video-game dribbles, one-twos and piercing through-balls. Cafu, who he was curious to know what would have become of his career had he remained an attacking midfielder, exhilarated in that position, while Rivaldo hit a hat-trick in a 6-1 demolition. With Djalminha, one of the most intoxicating talents Brazil has ever produced, Rivaldo and Muller ripping teams apart, Palmeiras preposterously scored 102 goals in 30 games – 27 were wins – en route to the Paulistao title, registered 21 successive victories and finished as Copa do Brasil runners-up. Amazingly, they averaged 3.06 goals per game over the six months before Rivaldo was sold to Deportivo La Coruna. “Few teams in football history have struck panic into opponents like that Palmeiras team.” Cafu

The patience of a saint

Year: 1999 Superhero: Marcos Heroes: Junior Baiano, Francisco Arce, Cesar Sampaio, Zinho, Alex, Paulo Nunes. Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari Marcos joined Palmeiras in 1992 and waited for his chance. And waited. And waited. He had, against the advice of all and sundry, refused repeated offers to leave to serve as deputy to club legend Velloso. Finally, in 1999, an injury to the club legend afforded Marcos his chance. Within months he had been canonised as ‘Saint Marcos’. The Oriente native produced extraordinary performances over two legs against Corinthians in the Libertadores quarter-finals, emerging as the hero of the shootout. He followed suit against a River Plate side including Marcelo Gallardo, Javier Saviola and Juan Pablo Angel in the semis, and helped Palmeiras sink Deportivo Cali on penalties in the final. The free-kicks and invention of Arce, goals of Junior Baiano – he was their five-goal leading marksman from centre-back – and playmaking of 21-year-old Alex were also vital, but there’s no doubt that O Verdão’s maiden continental conquest was most indebted to Marcos. ‘Felipão’ and ‘Saint Marcos’ combined again to help Brazil to glory, and the latter would ultimately spend almost two decades at his only club. “The only thing that Marcos didn’t do during that campaign was make it rain.” Luiz Felipe Scolari (from FIFA.com News)

Football (Soccer) News

Accomplishments and disappointments

Final Ranking:

Stadiums:

Goals scored:

Top scorers:

Awards:

The matches

What they said

FIFA.com: This will be your first Club World Cup. Do you think it will be special?

Will playing against teams from different parts of the world, with different styles, be a challenge?

First up you have Al Ahly in the semi-finals…

Are things more challenging this season?

How did it feel to win the Champions League?

Would winning the Club World Cup put the icing on the cake for Bayern?

How much did winning The Best FIFA Men’s Player mean to you?

You’re scoring goals relentlessly. Do you think this is the best version of Lewandowski we’ve ever seen.

Fixtures

The words

The stat

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