In Italy, the only European country that had been champion of the FIFA World Cup by 1951, the 1951 tournament was hailed enthusiastically: the Italian press regarded the competition as an "impressive project" that "was greeted so enthusiastically by FIFA officials Stanley Rous and Jules Rimet to the extent of almost giving it an official FIFA stamp;"Corriere dello Sport: Claudio Carsughi - Tra Rio de Janeiro e San Paolo l´avvio del "Torneo dei Campioni" - página 3(acervo), 30 June 1951 Describing Juventus's acceptance to participate in the 1951 tournament, the Italian press stated that "an Italian club could not be missing in such an important and worldwide-reaching event". Giampiero Boniperti, Juventus's main star at Copa Rio 1951 (thus, the main European star in the competition), declared, in a 2007 interview to Placar, that he and his teammates played Copa Rio 1951 seeing it as the legitimate Club World Cup.
