The Confederations Cup in Russia started yesterday, and
DFB.com have all the facts you need to know about the tournament. We look at the Germany team, their competitors, records and much more.
The tournament
From the King Fahd Cup to the Confederations Cup: The Confederations Cup made its debut in 1997 in Saudi Arabia. Until 2005, the competition was played every two years, since then it has been reduced to every four. Between 1992 and 1995, the tournament was called the King Fahd Cup, but in 1997, FIFA renamed it the Confederations Cup. Including the King Fahd Cup, this year’s tournament in Russia is the competition’s tenth edition.
Third time in Europe: This year, the Confed Cup is taking place in Europe for the third time. Asia (Saudi Arabia three times), has been the host four times. North and South America (Mexico & Brazil), as well as Africa (South Africa), have each hosted the competition once. The only continent where the competition hasn’t been played yet is Australia.
Tournament format: Eight nations have been split into two groups, with two group winners facing the second-placed country of the other group in the semi-final knockout stage. Since 1997, the winners of the six continental trophies, the reigning World Champions, as well as the hosts of the next World Cup qualify for the tournament. In the past, countries have chosen not to take part, so the second-placed teams of the relevant competition replace them.
The host cities: The Confed Cup will be played in four stadiums. The biggest is the Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg (69,500 seats), while the smallest is the Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow (42,000). The Kazan Arena (45,015) and the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi (47,659) are the two other stadiums which will host the competition.
Prize money: The nations which finish fifth to eighth receive 1.7 million dollars as prize money, while fourth place wins 2.5 million, and the prize money increases to 3 million for the bronze medal. The runners up will receive 3.6 million dollars, with the winners taking home 4.1 million dollars.
A curious fact: The winners of the Confederations Cup have never gone on to win the next year’s World Cup.
Stats and facts: 380 goals have been scored in the 124 games ever contested at the Confederations Cup – that’s an average of 3.06 goals a match. In 2013, a new record was set for the most goals at a Confederations Cup, as 68 goals were scored in 16 games. The 20th strike at this year’s tournament will be the Cup’s 400th in its history. Saudi Arabia’s Fahad Al Bishi scored the competition’s first ever goal in a 3-0 win against the USA in the opener, converting a penalty in the 48th minute to open the scoring.
The teams
All eight teams:
Alongside hosts Russia and World Champions Germany, the winners of the six continental cups are of course represented at this year’s tournament. For the first time, Europe provides three representatives in Russia, Germany and Portugal (2016 Euros winners), while Chile represent South America after winning the 2015 Copa América. Australia (2015 AFC Asian Cup champions), New Zealand (2016 OFC Nations Cup champions), Cameroon (2017 Africa Cup of Nations winners) and Mexico (2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners) make up the rest of the field.
Debuts and record participators:
Hosts Russia, European Champions Portugal and Copa América winners Chile are making their debuts in the competition. For Mexico, however, it’s their seventh time in the tournament, meaning they’ve now equaled Brazil’s record for the most Confed Cup a nation has participated in. Mexico won the Confederations Cup on home soil in 1999, and are therefore the only competitor this year to have previously won the trophy. All the confederations have had a representative in the final at least once. Australia have taken part in the tournament four times, but are competing for the first time as Champions of Asia. The three times the
Socceroos qualified previously was for being crowned champions of the Oceania region.
South American dominance:
Teams from South America have taken the trophy home five times, European countries three times. On the other occasion, Mexico (1999) won for North and Central America. An African nation has never won the competition, but Cameroon, who take part this year, reached the final in 2003. That time, they lost 1-0 to a Thierry Henry golden goal in extra time against France.
Successful World Champions: The regning World Champions have won the Confed Cup twice. In 1997, Brazil were crowned champions while in 2001 it was France’s turn.
Strong Bundesliga presence: As well as the 14 Bundesliga players from the DFB Team, nine other players from other nations will feature in this year’s Confederations Cup, who also play their club football in Germany. They are: Australians Mitchell Langerak (Stuttgart) and Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Chile’s Arturo Vidal (Bayern) and Charles Aranguiz (Leverkusen), Cameroon’s Jacques Zoua (Kaiserslautern), Mexicans Marco Fabian (Frankfurt) and Chicharito (Leverkusen), Portugal’s Raphael Guerreiro (BVB) and New Zealand’s Stefan Marinovic (Unterhaching). As well as all of these, Australian Jaimie Maclaren recently transferred to Darmstadt 98 for the new season.
The referees
Video referees: At the end of April, FIFA chose nine referee teams from five continents for the tournament. Eight video referees from five continents, as well as referee Adbelkader Zitouni from Tahiti, will also assist the officials during the games. For the first time since 1999, no German-speaking referees have been selected for the Confed Cup.
The Germany team
Reigning World Champions: Germany are set to feature in their third Confederations Cup (after 1999 and 2005). The DFB Team qualified for the competition in Russia after winning the World Cup in 2014. Head coach Joachim Löw was Jürgen Klinsann’s assistant at the 2005 tournament, in which Germany came third thanks to a 4-3 win (AET) against Mexico. Three Germany players who contested the Cup in 2005, became World Champions nine years later – they were Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertersacker.
New faces: The Germany squad for the Confed Cup consists of 21 players, six of whom made their debuts for Die Mannschaft very recently in the friendly against Denmark on June 6th (1-1). These six players were Sandro Wagner, Marvin Plattenhardt, Lars Stindl, Kevin Trapp, Kerem Demirbay and Amin Younes. The youngest players in the squad is Leverkusen’s Benjamin Henrichs, the 20 years old is also the second-youngest player at the tournament. The oldest players in the squad are Gladbach’s Lars Stindl and TSG’s Sandro Wagner (28 and 29 respectively).
Hoffenheim quartet: 1899 Hoffenheim are the outfit which provides the most players to Löw’s team (four players). Bayer Leverkusen follow them with three, and PSG supply two. From German champions Bayern Munich comes Joshua Kimmich.
Experience abroad: Julian Draxler, Kevin Trapp (both PSG), Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona), Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal), Antonio Rüdiger (AS Roma), Emre Can (Liverpool) and Amin Younes (Ajax) are the seven players who ply their trade outside of Germany. At the Euros in France last year, nine Germany players represented foreign teams at club level.
Second-youngest Captain: Julian Draxler will lead the DFB Team at the age of 23 years and 270 days. The only captain of Germany that was younger at the start of a FIFA or UEFA tournament was Karlsruhe midfielder Mx Breunig at the Olympic Games in 1912 (23 years & 229 days). With 30 caps, Draxler has the most of anyone in the squad, though he’s closely followed by Jonas Hector (29). Also, with four goals, he’s also the top scorer in the squad.
German records and special games
Third place on home soil: Germany’s best finish in this tournament was third place in 2005, when the Cup was played on home soil. Back then, Germany lost narrowly 3-2 to reigning World Champions Brazil, but won the third-place play-off against Mexico (4-3 AET), after playing for almost 70 minutes a man down (Mike Hanke red card in the 54th minute).
Even record: In the eight Confederations Cup games Germany have played, their goal difference is zero (17 goals scored, 17 conceded). Meanwhile, their results record is as follows: four wins, three losses and a draw. Two of the three defeats came to Brazil, the other was against the USA in 1999 (2-0).
Highest win: The DFB Team’s best win at the tournament is a 3-0 victory over Tunisia in the 2005 group stage. On the other hand, their heaviest loss is a 4-0 defeat to Brazil in the competition opener in 1999.
"Capitano" is Germany's top-scorer: In 2005, Germany scored a total of 15 goals at the tournament – the second most goal a team has ever scored at the Confed Cup (15, along with Spain 2013). The only nation to score more at a single tournament were Brazil in 1999 (18). The German with the most goals in the competition is Michael Ballack, who found the back of the net in each of his four appearances in 2005. The only player to score more than him that year was Brazil’s Adriano (five).
Fastest Germany goal: Michael Preetz holds the record for the quickest Germany goal at the Confederations Cup. He struck after nine minutes on July 28th in a 2-0 win against New Zealand. The goal was also his first in Germany colours.
Record teams
Brilliant Brazil: The record winners of the Confed Cup are Brazil with four titles (1997, 2005-2013). France are the only other country to lift the trophy more than once (2001, 2003). Argentina (1992), Denmark (1995) and Mexico (1999) have all won it once. Brazil (33) and Mexico (22) are the teams to have contested the most games, followed by Japan (16). Brazil are also the team with the most wins (23), far ahead of Mexico and France (nine each) who have the second-most victories. Japan are the nation with the most losses (16). Mexico have conceded the most goals in the tournament’s history (33), while Brazil hold the record for the most consecutive wins – 13 games since 2005. The longest run of games scored in is also held by the South Americans (13 since 2005) – it’s also a record which is still going. Brazil and Cameroon share the record for the most consecutive clean sheets (five). However, Cameroon’s 572 minutes without conceding, compared to Brazil’s 472, gives them the edge.
Kiwis winless: New Zealand are the only country to have played nine times at the Confed Cup and remain winless (one draw, eight losses). All other teams, who have contested more than three games or more, have at least one win. The only teams to have played in the competition but never score, are Irak, Greece and Canada. In three games, Irak did however only concede one goal.
Record players
Regulars and goal-scorers: Brazil’s Dida is the player with the most appearances at the Confed Cup, making 22 appearances in the tournament between 1997 and 2005. In addition, the keeper is the only player to have taken part in the competition five times. The record goal-scorer of the Confederations Cup is his compatriot Ronaldinho (Gaucho), who bagged nine goals over the course of two tournaments – Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco is level with him on goals too.
Serial offenders: Romario and Ronaldinho share their record with former Germany captain Michael Ballack. The three players are the only ones to have scored at least one goal in four consecutive games.
Four for four : Four players have managed to score four goals in a game. Fernando Torres did so in Spain’s 10-0 rout over Tahiti in 2013, whilst Abel Hernandez also managed the feat in Uruguay’s 8-0 win over Tahiti in the same year. Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored four as Mexico beat Saudi Arabia 5-1 in 1999, and Marzouk Al Otaibi is the other player to have done so when Saudi Arabia defeated Egypt, also in 1999. However, Torres is the only player in the history of the Confed Cup to have scored two hat-tricks: once against Tahiti, and the other came against New Zealand in 2009’s 5-0 triumph.
Quick-starters, juveniles, and veterans: Hassan Mubarak of the United Arab Emirates scored against South Africa after just 39 seconds on December 15th 1997, making it the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. The youngest goalscorer of the tournament is Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta, who scored against the Czech Republic on that same day, December 15th 1997, at the age of 19 years and 10 days. A German holds the record of being the tournament’s oldest goalscorer: Lothar Matthäus, who found the back of the net against New Zealand on July 28th 1999 in a 2-0 win, when he was 38 years and 129 days old. Worthy of note is that that goal makes him the oldest goalscorer for Germany to this day.
The hosts: Russia
Premiere: Russia are hosting the Confederations Cup for the first time, and are hosting a FIFA tournament for their second time. Russia hosted the U20 Women’s World Cup in 2006. The Confederations Cup has been won by the hosts on three occasions: Mexico in 1999, France in 2003, and Brazil in 2013.
Russia’s group: Russia meet Mexico, New Zealand, and Portugal in the group stage. The ‘Sbornaja’ only have a negative record against incumbent European Champions Portugal (3 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses).
The Russian team: Russia are the only side in the tournament not to feature a legionnaire in their squad. All their players are currently active in the Russian Premier League, with most of them playing for Spartak Moscow (five). Roman Neustädter, who grew up in Germany and made two appearances for Germany in 2012 and 2013, has not been called up.
created by dfb
The Confederations Cup in Russia started yesterday, and
DFB.com have all the facts you need to know about the tournament. We look at the Germany team, their competitors, records and much more.
The tournament
From the King Fahd Cup to the Confederations Cup: The Confederations Cup made its debut in 1997 in Saudi Arabia. Until 2005, the competition was played every two years, since then it has been reduced to every four. Between 1992 and 1995, the tournament was called the King Fahd Cup, but in 1997, FIFA renamed it the Confederations Cup. Including the King Fahd Cup, this year’s tournament in Russia is the competition’s tenth edition.
Third time in Europe: This year, the Confed Cup is taking place in Europe for the third time. Asia (Saudi Arabia three times), has been the host four times. North and South America (Mexico & Brazil), as well as Africa (South Africa), have each hosted the competition once. The only continent where the competition hasn’t been played yet is Australia.
Tournament format: Eight nations have been split into two groups, with two group winners facing the second-placed country of the other group in the semi-final knockout stage. Since 1997, the winners of the six continental trophies, the reigning World Champions, as well as the hosts of the next World Cup qualify for the tournament. In the past, countries have chosen not to take part, so the second-placed teams of the relevant competition replace them.
The host cities: The Confed Cup will be played in four stadiums. The biggest is the Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg (69,500 seats), while the smallest is the Otkrytiye Arena in Moscow (42,000). The Kazan Arena (45,015) and the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi (47,659) are the two other stadiums which will host the competition.
Prize money: The nations which finish fifth to eighth receive 1.7 million dollars as prize money, while fourth place wins 2.5 million, and the prize money increases to 3 million for the bronze medal. The runners up will receive 3.6 million dollars, with the winners taking home 4.1 million dollars.
A curious fact: The winners of the Confederations Cup have never gone on to win the next year’s World Cup.
Stats and facts: 380 goals have been scored in the 124 games ever contested at the Confederations Cup – that’s an average of 3.06 goals a match. In 2013, a new record was set for the most goals at a Confederations Cup, as 68 goals were scored in 16 games. The 20th strike at this year’s tournament will be the Cup’s 400th in its history. Saudi Arabia’s Fahad Al Bishi scored the competition’s first ever goal in a 3-0 win against the USA in the opener, converting a penalty in the 48th minute to open the scoring.
The teams
All eight teams:
Alongside hosts Russia and World Champions Germany, the winners of the six continental cups are of course represented at this year’s tournament. For the first time, Europe provides three representatives in Russia, Germany and Portugal (2016 Euros winners), while Chile represent South America after winning the 2015 Copa América. Australia (2015 AFC Asian Cup champions), New Zealand (2016 OFC Nations Cup champions), Cameroon (2017 Africa Cup of Nations winners) and Mexico (2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup winners) make up the rest of the field.
Debuts and record participators:
Hosts Russia, European Champions Portugal and Copa América winners Chile are making their debuts in the competition. For Mexico, however, it’s their seventh time in the tournament, meaning they’ve now equaled Brazil’s record for the most Confed Cup a nation has participated in. Mexico won the Confederations Cup on home soil in 1999, and are therefore the only competitor this year to have previously won the trophy. All the confederations have had a representative in the final at least once. Australia have taken part in the tournament four times, but are competing for the first time as Champions of Asia. The three times the
Socceroos qualified previously was for being crowned champions of the Oceania region.
South American dominance:
Teams from South America have taken the trophy home five times, European countries three times. On the other occasion, Mexico (1999) won for North and Central America. An African nation has never won the competition, but Cameroon, who take part this year, reached the final in 2003. That time, they lost 1-0 to a Thierry Henry golden goal in extra time against France.
Successful World Champions: The regning World Champions have won the Confed Cup twice. In 1997, Brazil were crowned champions while in 2001 it was France’s turn.
Strong Bundesliga presence: As well as the 14 Bundesliga players from the DFB Team, nine other players from other nations will feature in this year’s Confederations Cup, who also play their club football in Germany. They are: Australians Mitchell Langerak (Stuttgart) and Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin), Chile’s Arturo Vidal (Bayern) and Charles Aranguiz (Leverkusen), Cameroon’s Jacques Zoua (Kaiserslautern), Mexicans Marco Fabian (Frankfurt) and Chicharito (Leverkusen), Portugal’s Raphael Guerreiro (BVB) and New Zealand’s Stefan Marinovic (Unterhaching). As well as all of these, Australian Jaimie Maclaren recently transferred to Darmstadt 98 for the new season.
The referees
Video referees: At the end of April, FIFA chose nine referee teams from five continents for the tournament. Eight video referees from five continents, as well as referee Adbelkader Zitouni from Tahiti, will also assist the officials during the games. For the first time since 1999, no German-speaking referees have been selected for the Confed Cup.
The Germany team
Reigning World Champions: Germany are set to feature in their third Confederations Cup (after 1999 and 2005). The DFB Team qualified for the competition in Russia after winning the World Cup in 2014. Head coach Joachim Löw was Jürgen Klinsann’s assistant at the 2005 tournament, in which Germany came third thanks to a 4-3 win (AET) against Mexico. Three Germany players who contested the Cup in 2005, became World Champions nine years later – they were Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertersacker.
New faces: The Germany squad for the Confed Cup consists of 21 players, six of whom made their debuts for Die Mannschaft very recently in the friendly against Denmark on June 6th (1-1). These six players were Sandro Wagner, Marvin Plattenhardt, Lars Stindl, Kevin Trapp, Kerem Demirbay and Amin Younes. The youngest players in the squad is Leverkusen’s Benjamin Henrichs, the 20 years old is also the second-youngest player at the tournament. The oldest players in the squad are Gladbach’s Lars Stindl and TSG’s Sandro Wagner (28 and 29 respectively).
Hoffenheim quartet: 1899 Hoffenheim are the outfit which provides the most players to Löw’s team (four players). Bayer Leverkusen follow them with three, and PSG supply two. From German champions Bayern Munich comes Joshua Kimmich.
Experience abroad: Julian Draxler, Kevin Trapp (both PSG), Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona), Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal), Antonio Rüdiger (AS Roma), Emre Can (Liverpool) and Amin Younes (Ajax) are the seven players who ply their trade outside of Germany. At the Euros in France last year, nine Germany players represented foreign teams at club level.
Second-youngest Captain: Julian Draxler will lead the DFB Team at the age of 23 years and 270 days. The only captain of Germany that was younger at the start of a FIFA or UEFA tournament was Karlsruhe midfielder Mx Breunig at the Olympic Games in 1912 (23 years & 229 days). With 30 caps, Draxler has the most of anyone in the squad, though he’s closely followed by Jonas Hector (29). Also, with four goals, he’s also the top scorer in the squad.
German records and special games
Third place on home soil: Germany’s best finish in this tournament was third place in 2005, when the Cup was played on home soil. Back then, Germany lost narrowly 3-2 to reigning World Champions Brazil, but won the third-place play-off against Mexico (4-3 AET), after playing for almost 70 minutes a man down (Mike Hanke red card in the 54th minute).
Even record: In the eight Confederations Cup games Germany have played, their goal difference is zero (17 goals scored, 17 conceded). Meanwhile, their results record is as follows: four wins, three losses and a draw. Two of the three defeats came to Brazil, the other was against the USA in 1999 (2-0).
Highest win: The DFB Team’s best win at the tournament is a 3-0 victory over Tunisia in the 2005 group stage. On the other hand, their heaviest loss is a 4-0 defeat to Brazil in the competition opener in 1999.
"Capitano" is Germany's top-scorer: In 2005, Germany scored a total of 15 goals at the tournament – the second most goal a team has ever scored at the Confed Cup (15, along with Spain 2013). The only nation to score more at a single tournament were Brazil in 1999 (18). The German with the most goals in the competition is Michael Ballack, who found the back of the net in each of his four appearances in 2005. The only player to score more than him that year was Brazil’s Adriano (five).
Fastest Germany goal: Michael Preetz holds the record for the quickest Germany goal at the Confederations Cup. He struck after nine minutes on July 28th in a 2-0 win against New Zealand. The goal was also his first in Germany colours.
Record teams
Brilliant Brazil: The record winners of the Confed Cup are Brazil with four titles (1997, 2005-2013). France are the only other country to lift the trophy more than once (2001, 2003). Argentina (1992), Denmark (1995) and Mexico (1999) have all won it once. Brazil (33) and Mexico (22) are the teams to have contested the most games, followed by Japan (16). Brazil are also the team with the most wins (23), far ahead of Mexico and France (nine each) who have the second-most victories. Japan are the nation with the most losses (16). Mexico have conceded the most goals in the tournament’s history (33), while Brazil hold the record for the most consecutive wins – 13 games since 2005. The longest run of games scored in is also held by the South Americans (13 since 2005) – it’s also a record which is still going. Brazil and Cameroon share the record for the most consecutive clean sheets (five). However, Cameroon’s 572 minutes without conceding, compared to Brazil’s 472, gives them the edge.
Kiwis winless: New Zealand are the only country to have played nine times at the Confed Cup and remain winless (one draw, eight losses). All other teams, who have contested more than three games or more, have at least one win. The only teams to have played in the competition but never score, are Irak, Greece and Canada. In three games, Irak did however only concede one goal.
Record players
Regulars and goal-scorers: Brazil’s Dida is the player with the most appearances at the Confed Cup, making 22 appearances in the tournament between 1997 and 2005. In addition, the keeper is the only player to have taken part in the competition five times. The record goal-scorer of the Confederations Cup is his compatriot Ronaldinho (Gaucho), who bagged nine goals over the course of two tournaments – Mexico’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco is level with him on goals too.
Serial offenders: Romario and Ronaldinho share their record with former Germany captain Michael Ballack. The three players are the only ones to have scored at least one goal in four consecutive games.
Four for four : Four players have managed to score four goals in a game. Fernando Torres did so in Spain’s 10-0 rout over Tahiti in 2013, whilst Abel Hernandez also managed the feat in Uruguay’s 8-0 win over Tahiti in the same year. Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored four as Mexico beat Saudi Arabia 5-1 in 1999, and Marzouk Al Otaibi is the other player to have done so when Saudi Arabia defeated Egypt, also in 1999. However, Torres is the only player in the history of the Confed Cup to have scored two hat-tricks: once against Tahiti, and the other came against New Zealand in 2009’s 5-0 triumph.
Quick-starters, juveniles, and veterans: Hassan Mubarak of the United Arab Emirates scored against South Africa after just 39 seconds on December 15th 1997, making it the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. The youngest goalscorer of the tournament is Uruguayan Marcelo Zalayeta, who scored against the Czech Republic on that same day, December 15th 1997, at the age of 19 years and 10 days. A German holds the record of being the tournament’s oldest goalscorer: Lothar Matthäus, who found the back of the net against New Zealand on July 28th 1999 in a 2-0 win, when he was 38 years and 129 days old. Worthy of note is that that goal makes him the oldest goalscorer for Germany to this day.
The hosts: Russia
Premiere: Russia are hosting the Confederations Cup for the first time, and are hosting a FIFA tournament for their second time. Russia hosted the U20 Women’s World Cup in 2006. The Confederations Cup has been won by the hosts on three occasions: Mexico in 1999, France in 2003, and Brazil in 2013.
Russia’s group: Russia meet Mexico, New Zealand, and Portugal in the group stage. The ‘Sbornaja’ only have a negative record against incumbent European Champions Portugal (3 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses).
The Russian team: Russia are the only side in the tournament not to feature a legionnaire in their squad. All their players are currently active in the Russian Premier League, with most of them playing for Spartak Moscow (five). Roman Neustädter, who grew up in Germany and made two appearances for Germany in 2012 and 2013, has not been called up.
