Manchester City have the chance to make club history at the FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia next week.
The treble winners have never taken part in the prestigious competition – which English sides can only qualify for if they win the UEFA Champions League.
If the Citizens emerge triumphant in Saudi Arabia, they will be allowed to wear the FIFA Champions Badge in the UEFA Champions League – but not the Premier League – while there will also be some prize money.
(Correction: The Premier League have since made the surprise decision to allow the FIFA Champions Badge to be worn by Manchester City)
However, there is one other award Manchester City could secure at the FIFA Club World Cup…
Manchester City could win the FIFA Fair Play Trophy
Well, the FIFA Fair Play Trophy is awarded to the side with the best disciplinary record at the FIFA Club World Cup, so the side who receive the least amount of yellow and red cards will lift the silverware.
Real Madrid have won the most FIFA Fair Play Trophies with four.
If Manchester City can secure the FIFA Fair Play Trophy in Saudi Arabia, it will land the Citizens a diploma, a fair play medal for each player and official, and also $50,000 (£40,000) worth of football equipment to be used for youth development.
The treble winners will also receive an actual piece of silverware if they win the FIFA Fair Play Trophy – as you can see the £306,219-a-day man Karim Benzema holding above.
You can see the total list of FIFA Fair Play Trophy winners below.
- Al-Nassr (Brazil 2000)
- Liverpool (Japan 2005)
- Barcelona (Japan 2006)
- Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan 2007)
- Adelaide United (Japan 2008)
- Atlante (2009 United Arab Emirates)
- Inter Milan (2010 United Arab Emirates)
- Barcelona (2011 Japan)
- Monterrey (2012 Japan)
- Bayern Munich (2013 Morocco)
- Real Madrid (2014 Morocco)
- Barcelona (2015 Japan)
- Kashima Antlers (2016 Japan)
- Real Madrid (2017 United Arab Emirates)
- Real Madrid (2018 United Arab Emirates)
- Espérance de Tunis (2019 Qatar)
- Al-Duhail (2020 Qatar)
- Chelsea (2021 United Arab Emirates)
- Real Madrid (2022 Morocco)
Manchester City will only play a maximum of two games at the FIFA Club World Cup as Pep Guardiola’s side start at the Semi-Final stage.
Therefore, winning the FIFA Fair Play Trophy should be fairly simple – as long as Manchester City do not end up involved in any chaotic scenes on the pitch.
