Fast-forward just eight years and it’s a different story. Real Madrid has won four of the last five, with Barcelona being in the exception that five year span. Only once has the title been decided by one goal or fewer in that same eight year span (it happened five times in the competition’s first seven years). The most recent tournament was maybe the worst yet: in the entire tournament just four out of the eight matches were decided by one goal or fewer and the average attendance was under 20,000.
 

All of that means the Club World Cup is in a bad spot. The teams many come to see from Europe and South America play all of two matches and you’re lucky if they bother to field a full squad.

But it’s a Catch-22, especially for European teams. If you don’t field your full team then no one bothers to watch. But if the European superpowers do put their full squad in, then it’s not even a competition. European teams have money and resources that absolutely dwarf any other continent, even South America.
 

The obvious question: what do we do about it? FIFA has suggested a 24 team tournament to replace the Confederations Cup beginning in 2021. While it may sound like an easy fix, half of that field would be UEFA teams. What we’ll actually be getting is essentially a replay of the 2020 Champions League but replace the Red Star Belgrades of the tournament with Kashima Antlers and Al-Ain.

This remix of a struggling competition does nothing to address the root cause — European teams are just better than other teams. Two decades ago, South American teams like Corinthians, Internacional and Boca Juniors had more homegrown talent. That meant teams from Ecuador, Japan and even Congo had a chance of competing with the big dogs. Now, with the giants of Europe snatching up anyone with even the slightest hint of potential the day they turn 16, no team has the talent to compete.

Let's think outside the box for a second. With more talent and more resources comes larger wages. According to statistics from 2014, Brazil has the highest annual wages outside of Europe… yet the Brazilian first division ranks seventh overall. The average wage of a Brazilian player in 2014 was less than half that of a player from Spain and less than a quarter of a player from England. The highest-paying African country still only gives its players 5 percent of what the average English player receives.

In order to even out the talent gap, we should head it off at the source: make clubs play with a salary cap. For example, Real Madrid’s squad in the 2018 Club World Cup finals is paid about £120 million a year in wages. If teams were required to field a squad with a maximum of £60 million a year, it may serve to bring Madrid closer to the rest of the pack. They would have to go without 2018 top goalscorer Gareth Bale, captain Sergio Ramos and Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric. But star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Brazilian wonderkid Vinicius Jr. would be able to make the trip.

The result is a tournament to which European teams can still bring their stars, but their 18-man squad on match day would be much more comparable with those from CONCACAF or CAF sides.

Every year, we get to see the top players from across the globe face off for their country, but it’s been a long time since a non-UEFA team could truly go toe to toe with the forces of Europe. I’m sure soccer fans (and FIFA execs’ wallets) everywhere have been praying to see just that once again.