The eventual winners of that competition, Atlético Mineiro, were beaten in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup by Moroccan side Raja Casablanca, whose appearance in the final made them the first club to appear in all four rounds of the competition, having entered in the play-off for the quarter-finals; however, they were unable to make history by winning the title, as European champions Bayern Munich won the final 2–0 for their first Club World Cup title.

There were four countries bidding to host the 2013 and 2014 tournaments (same host for both tournaments):[5] In October 2011, FIFA said that Iran, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates all withdrew their bids, leaving Morocco as the only bidder.

[6] The FIFA Executive Committee officially confirmed Morocco as host on 17 December 2011 during their meeting in Tokyo, Japan.

[10] A tour of the FIFA Club World Cup Trophy took place from October to December 2013, starting from Yokohama, the site of the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup Final, before visiting the cities of each participating team, and ending at Casablanca before the start of the tournament.

[16] The draw was held on 9 October 2013 at 19:00 WEST (UTC+1), at the La Mamounia Hotel in Marrakesh, to decide the "positions" in the bracket for the three teams which entered the quarter-finals (champions of AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF).