For as long as the Seattle Sounders have been talking about their aspirations to win Concacaf Champions League — something they finally did on Wednesday in front of nearly 69,000 fans — it has been discussed with a connection to the Club World Cup. Traditionally, winning CCL comes with an invitation to the annual tournament that features the winners from each of the six FIFA confederations. Most notably, it promises teams from “smaller” confederations the opportunity to play a “meaningful” match against the true heavyweights from Europe and South America.
Although a date, location and format for the next Club World Cup are all still undecided, the Sounders insist they’ll be participating, albeit with lots of caveats.