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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/ToeInDigDeep on 2025-06-01 23:23:35+00:00.
After watching my LAFC beat Club America last night to secure the last spot in the Club World Cup, it led me to think about how much the format of the Club World Cup lines up with what a lot of fans would love to see in College Football – more matchups with bigger stakes and ways to play your way in.
So let’s identify some analogies between association football and college gridiron football around the similarities between continental confederations in FIFA and conferences in NCAA. There are a great many similarities between the two, particularly in perceptions of strength and power, rarity of interplay between them at the club level outside of friendlies in FIFA and non-conference games in NCAA, and in terms of the role money and player mobility have come to play.
One obvious issue with the analogy is the power balance in club football is more concentrated than in the college game, as can be seen reflected in the allocation of teams by confederation for the 32-team Club World Cup:
- AFC (Asia) 4 slots
- CAF (Africa) 4 slots
- CONCACAF (North America) 4slots +1 host
- CONMEBOL (South America) 6 slots
- OFC (Oceania) 1 slot
- UEFA (Europe) 12 slots
So just like college football, power is held and divided unequally; but unlike college football, every conference (confederation) is given a shot, rather than our 12-team system that allocates only one spot to all of the non-AQ conferences.
So if we did some creative remapping, we could come up with something that equates the conferences and the confederations.
UEFA is the combination of the Big Ten and SEC, who each get half of 12 for 6 spots each. Equate the ACC to CAF and Big 12 to AFC for four spots each. Split the 6 spots from CONMEBOL between the AAC, MWC, and Sun Belt for two each. For now we can allocate CONCACAF’s four giving one spot each to the MAC, CUSA Pac-12, and Independents. And then Oceania can be the FCS, giving them one spot. The last spot for the host can be allocated differently in CFB by year; this year we just assume that it’s a play-in between the 7th team in the Big Ten and SEC.
The best part of this though isn’t the playoff element, but rather the fact of guaranteed games for participating teams. As an LAFC fan, knowing that we get to play Chelsea, Espérance de Tunis, and Flamengo is amazing! These games all happen no matter what, and then the knockout round happens after. So there are real stakes for everyone.
Using the format above, this is what we’d get following the results based on last season:
| FIFA Confederation | NCAA Conference | NCAA Team | FIFA Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Big 12 | Arizona State | Al-Hilal |
| AFC | Big 12 | Iowa State | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| AFC | Big 12 | BYU | Al Ain |
| AFC | Big 12 | Colorado | Ulsan HD |
| CAF | ACC | SMU | Al Ahly |
| CAF | ACC | Miami | Wydad AC |
| CAF | ACC | Clemson | Espérance de Tunis |
| CAF | ACC | Syracuse | Mamelodi Sundowns |
| CONCACAF | MAC | Ohio | Monterrey |
| CONCACAF | CUSA | Jacksonville State | Seattle Sounders |
| CONCACAF | Pac 12 | Oregon State | Pachuca |
| CONCACAF | Independent | Notre Dame | Los Angeles FC |
| CONMEBOL | MWC | Boise State | Palmeiras |
| CONMEBOL | MWC | UNLV | Flamengo |
| CONMEBOL | Sun Belt | Marshall | Fluminense |
| CONMEBOL | Sun Belt | Louisiana | Botafogo |
| CONMEBOL | American | Army | River Plate |
| CONMEBOL | American | Tulane | Boca Juniors |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Oregon | Chelsea |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Penn State | Real Madrid |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Indiana | Manchester City |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Ohio State | Bayern Munich |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Illinois | Paris Saint-Germain |
| UEFA | Big Ten | Iowa | Inter Milan |
| UEFA | SEC | Texas | Porto |
| UEFA | SEC | Georgia | Benfica |
| UEFA | SEC | Tennessee | Borussia Dortmund |
| UEFA | SEC | Ole Miss | Juventus |
| UEFA | SEC | Alabama | Atlético Madrid |
| UEFA | SEC | South Carolina | Red Bull Salzburg |
| OFC | FCS | North Dakota State | Auckland City |
| Host | SEC-B1G Play-in | Missouri/Michigan |
And applying the draw, this is what the group stage would look like, with a round-robin format of three games per group:
| Group A | Conference |
|---|---|
| Boise State | MWC |
| Texas | SEC |
| SMU | ACC |
| Missouri/Michigan | SEC/B1G Play-in |
| Group B | Conference |
|---|---|
| Illinois | B1G |
| Alabama | SEC |
| Louisiana | SBC |
| Jacksonville State | CUSA |
| Group C | Conference |
|---|---|
| Ohio State | B1G |
| North Dakota State | FCS |
| Tulane | AAC |
| Georgia | SEC |
| Group D | Conference |
|---|---|
| UNLV | MWC |
| Clemson | ACC |
| Oregon | B1G |
| Notre Dame | Ind. |
| Group E | Conference |
|---|---|
| Army | AAC |
| Iowa State | Big 12 |
| Ohio | MAC |
| Iowa | B1G |
| Group F | Conference |
|---|---|
| Marshall | SBC |
| Tennessee | SEC |
| Colorado | Big 12 |
| Syracuse | ACC |
| Group G | Conference |
|---|---|
| Indiana | B1G |
| Miami | ACC |
| BYU | Big 12 |
Ole Miss SEC
| Group H | Conference |
|---|---|
| Penn State | B1G |
| Arizona State | Big 12 |
| Oregon State | Pac 12 |
| South Carolina | SEC |
It brings a tear just thinking about it.