The last champions were Germany, who won the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup by defeating Chile 1–0 in the final to win their first title.

Considered a dress rehearsal for the World Cup it precedes, it used around half of the stadiums intended for use at the following year's competition and gave the host nation, which qualified for that tournament automatically, experience at a high level of competition during the two years.

[5] Generally, the host nation, the World Cup holders, and the six continental champions qualified for the competition.

Italy, UEFA Euro 2000 runners up, declined their place in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.

However, concerns arose surrounding Qatar's high temperatures during the summer period (which also led to calls for the World Cup to be moved from its traditional June–July scheduling to November–December).

An edition of the tournament was considered for 2022, and on 1 June 2022, Argentina beat Italy in the 2022 Finalissima, a relaunch of the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions.

The rankings of teams in each group were determined as follows (regulations Article 19.6): If two or more teams were equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings were determined as follows: The winners of the semi-finals advanced to the final, while the losers played in the third-place game.