Who will win the Confederations Cup in 2017?

The Confederations Cup is a special tournament held between eight teams from around the world that takes place from 17th June until 2nd July.  The 2017 tournament is being held in Russia but who are the favourites and which nation have the best record in it?

What is the Confederations Cup?

The Confederations Cup was founded back in 1992 by FIFA, the international football body.  The tournament is held every four years and is contested by the holders of each of the six regional championships along with the host nation and the World Cup Winner.  The regional championships that are involved are:

  • UEFA – Union of European Football Associations
  • CONMEBOL – South American Football Confederation
  • CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
  • CAF – Confederation of African Football
  • AFC – Asian Football Confederation
  • OFC- Oceania Football Confederation

The tournament is seen as a warm up for the World Cup so it is hosted by the country that will be hosting the next World Cup tournament.  

History of the tournament

The first tournament was held in Saudi Arabia and was called the King Fahd Cup held in both 1992 and 1995 by the Saudi national side along with some of the regional champions in 1997, FIFA took over organising the tournament and gave it the current name, scheduling it for every two years.  

This lasted until 2005 when it was decided to swap this to every four years and to take place twelve months before the World Cup.  As a warmup for the World Cup, it uses some of the same stadiums that the big event will use and therefore gives the people involved a chance to deal with any problems.  

Brazil has been the most successful team in the tournament, winning it on four occasions, being runners up once and finishing in 4th place on another occasion.  France come next with two wins while Argentina, Mexico and Denmark each have one tournament win apiece.  Brazil is the current holders of the cup, having beaten Spain in the final of the 2013 tournament 3-0.

The 2017 tournament

This year’s tournament will be held across four different stadiums – Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi.  There will be a group stage then a knockout stage that will see each team play three games in a group of four and the top two teams in each group progressing.  Those four teams will play one game and the two winners will play the final, with the other two playing the runners up game.

The tournament features the following teams:

  • Russia (host)
  • Germany (UEFA)
  • Australia (AFC)
  • Chile (CONMEBOL)
  • Mexico (CONCACAF)
  • New Zealand (OFC)
  • Portugal (UEFA)
  • Cameroon (CAF)

The two groups see Russia play New Zealand, Portugal and Mexico in Group A while the second group, Group B, contains Cameroon, Chile, Australia and Germany.  The winner of Group A will play the runner-up of Group B while the winner of Group B will play the runner up of Group A.  The final is being played in St Petersburg on 2nd July with the third-place playoff played on the same date in Moscow.

Who will win?

If you want to try a little matched betting, then Germany is the early favourite to be outright winner of the tournament.  As the 2014 World Cup winners, they are in a strong position to win the tournament.  Strong money is also being placed on Portugal and Chile.  If you want to go for a wild outsider, then Australia is ranked at 50-1 and may offer a surprise but the team least likely to win remains New Zealand.  Hosts Russia is currently around 9-1 with many bookmakers so could use their home advantage to cause an upset.

Who will win the Confederations Cup in 2017?

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