ON Saturday night in the Moroccan capital Rabat, football’s new club champions of the world will be crowned at the end of the Fifa Club World Cup final.

This is the 19th edition of the annual tournament, but for one reason or another, it doesn’t quite get much attention or interest from fans or the international sports media. Certainly not on the scale of other major club competitions like the Champions League, for instance.

The 53,000-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium is where Spain’s Real Madrid - winners of four of the five finals between 2014 and 2018 - will face Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal.

It might seem a mismatch on paper, given that Real Madrid’s team is packed with global superstars while anyone outside of Saudi Arabia will probably struggle to even name one player in Al Hilal’s modest squad.

Ahead of the showdown (Sunday 3 am kick-off, Singapore time), here’s what you need to know about this year’s Club World Cup final.

Who actually qualifies for this competition in the first place?

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The current format sees seven teams vying for the trophy at different stadiums within the host nation over two weeks. The teams are the winners of the various regional club competitions from Asia; Africa; North, Central America and the Caribbean; South America; Oceania; and Europe, as well as the host nation’s league champions. The tournament is played in a straight knockout format.

Are Real Madrid the overwhelming favourites?

From what the bookmakers are saying, the answer is a resounding “yes”. You could earn just 20 cents for every dollar you wager on Madrid to win in 90 minutes, but as much as 11 times your bet if you think Al Hilal can pull off what would be one of the sport’s biggest upsets.

Madrid are the current Champions League winners, and they already have one trophy in their cabinet this season after lifting the European Super Cup in August. Carlo Ancelotti’s men were unsuccessful in last month’s Spanish Super Cup final, however, losing to their eternal rivals Barcelona.

Madrid booked their spot in the Club World Cup final by beating Egyptian side Al Ahly 4-1 in the semi-finals, with the goals coming from Vinicius Jr, Federico Valverde, Rodrygo and Sergio Arribas.

But Ancelotti, the serial winner that he is, refused to let any sort of complacency creep into his team ahead of the kick-off.

“We are up against a team that won the semi-final by playing well and deserve to be in the final. We have to respect this team. They’ve got good players and play well collectively. They’ll be excited to play in the final and so will we,” he said.

Does Al Hilal stand any chance?

History isn’t on their side, for no team outside Europe or South America have ever won this competition. 

What’s more, Al Hilal - managed by former Argentina international Ramon Diaz - had to endure a much-tougher contest in their semi-final to outlast Brazil’s Flamengo by a score of 3-2, thanks to two penalties from Salem Al-Dawsari and a close-range strike from former Atletico Madrid and Villareal forward Luciano Vietto.

That result was enough to make them the first Saudi team to reach the Club World Cup final, and this feat was hailed by the country’s government as another sporting breakthrough, following the national team’s stunning win over Argentina in the World Cup last November.

There is a huge monetary incentive for Al Hilal should they somehow produce a miracle in Rabat. 

It was reported earlier this week that Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal – the chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company and one of the club’s most prominent fans – gifted a bonus of one million riyals (S$353,385) to each player from the squad for making the final, and he will also award a similar amount if they can defeat Madrid.

Each player also received 500,000 riyals from Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sports for their victory over Flamengo.

What happened in last year’s final?

Chelsea from the English Premier League won the Club World Cup held in Abu Dhabi last year, defeating Brazil’s Palmeiras 2-1 after extra time. The score was tied at one apiece at the end of 90 minutes, and Kai Havertz became the London club’s hero by blasting home a penalty with three minutes left in extra time.

That was the first time the Blues had won the trophy, having finished as runners-up in their only other appearance in the final back in 2012.