Al-Ittihad Captain Karim Benzema And Man City Midfielder Mateo Kovacic Aiming For FIFA Club World Cup Records
Al-Ittihad captain Karim Benzema will become the joint most successful player in FIFA Club World Cup history if he leads his team to glory in Saudi Arabia this month.
Benzema won the trophy five times with Real Madrid.
The only player who has won the Club World Cup more times than Benzema is former Madrid teammate Toni Kroos.
Benzema's first title came in 2014. He was then part of the Madrid side that won three in a row between 2016 and 2018.
His most recent Club World Cup triumph came as recently as February this year when he scored in a 5-3 win over Al-Hilal in the final.
That was officially the 2022 edition - although it took place in 2023 due to a clash with the proper World Cup.
Therefore, Benzema will become the first player ever to win the Club World Cup twice in the same year if Al-Ittihad lift the trophy on December 22.
Karim Benzema pictured holding the FIFA Club World Cup trophy after scoring in a 5-3 win over Al-Hilal in the final of the tournament in February 2023
IMAGO/Sports Press Photo/Marcio Machado/Eurasia Images
Kroos first lifted the Club World Cup with Bayern Munich in 2013 and then won it five times while playing alongside Benzema at Madrid.
Other than Kroos, just eight players have won the Club World Cup with two different teams.
The list of two-team winners includes Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Madrid), David Alaba (Bayern and Madrid), Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea and Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona and Bayern), Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern and Liverpool), Dida (AC Milan and Corinthians) and Danilo (Sao Paulo and Corinthians).
The other player to have won the Club World Cup with two different teams is Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
Kovacic was part of Madrid's victorious campaigns in 2016 and 2017, before featuring in Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Palmeiras in the final of the 2021 edition - which was actually played in 2022 after being postponed due to the COVID pandemic.
Should Kovacic get on the pitch and contribute to a City triumph in Jeddah then he will become the first ever player to be a Club World Cup champion with three different teams.
