Confederation Club Champions and the World Cup

The Champions League final is just around the corner, which got me to thinking about how the various nations who have a club win their confederation club championship in a World Cup year fare at the subsequent edition of FIFA's marquee event.

Here's a table that summarizes Champions League and Copa Libertadores (I left it at just UEFA and CONMEBOL for time's sake) winners, what nations those teams are from, and how those nations finished at the World Cup. "N/A" means that a nation did not qualify for the World Cup in that particular year. Also, the Copa Libertadores champions are those from the last tournament to finish prior to the start of each World Cup, which has sometimes been in the same year and sometimes in the previous one.



Some interesting stats:

In the 13 World Cups since the creation of the UEFA Champions League (European Cup), the World Cup winner has also been the home of a defending continental club champion just 5 times.

Of the 13 Champions League winners in World Cup years, only Bayern Munich's 1974 title has been followed up by a World Cup win by their home country (West Germany). Will Marcello Lippi or Joachim Low be hoping that Inter or Bayern lose come May 22? Probably not. Just something to mull over as that match and the World Cup get closer, though.

Of course, a lot of other things are in play here, particularly in this era of globalization and increased player movement; how much can Inter's success really be related to Italy's when the former frequently utilizes a lineup with little to no Italians in it? I'll just let all of you draw your own conclusions about if there is anything valuable here or what the causes behind any kind of pattern may be.

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I'll try to get something else up on the site later tonight to make up for the lack of posts in recent days, though I can't promise anything.

Have a good afternoon, everybody.