Maldini: World Club Cup Is My World Cup

Milan captain Paolo Maldini is desperate to win next month’s FIFA World Club Cup and describes it as his version of the World Cup.


The World Club Cup, formerly known as the FIFA Club World Championship, is contested between the champion clubs from all of the continental confederations.

Milan qualified courtesy of their 2-1 European Champions League final victory over Liverpool last May, and go into the tournament as the hot favourites.

Maldini has won virtually every domestic, European and international club trophy on offer during a glittering 23-year career, however he sadly never won anything with the Italian national team and had already retired from the Azzurri when they won the World Cup last summer.

“I have no regrets about the World Cup in Germany as I had already been out of the reckoning for four years,” said the legend. “However the pain of defeat in 1990 and 1994 still burns inside of me.
“Now I think only about Milan and the World Club Cup. It is a unique competition and I want to win it at all costs having lost the last three editions of it that I played in.

“It is an opportunity that must not escape – it is the greatest club event out there.”

Goal.com