It was the first to be held after by the merger between the Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA Club World Championship (which had been played in a first edition in 2000).

The tournament was held in Japan from 11 to 18 December 2005 and won by Brazilian club São Paulo, who defeated English side Liverpool 1–0 in the final.

As a result of this merger, the tournament was conceived as being smaller than the original Club World Championship, which had lasted two weeks, yet building on the one game format of the Intercontinental Cup.

The winners were then joined by the European and South American champions in the semi-finals; the losers played in a third place play-off.

The tournament was quite well received, although some commentators have stated that, excluding São Paulo and Liverpool, the quality of football was quite poor leading to a view that it might have been better retaining the two continent format of the European/South American Cup.