Barcelona, the favourites to lift the FIFA Club World Cup tournament trophy on Sunday, were greeted by an enthusiastic mob of about 200 fans as they arrived in Japan on Monday for their semi-final Club World Cup match against Mexico’s Club América in the tournament in Japan.

About half the crowd were wearing Barcelona shirts and holding banners, shouting their support for the European champions as they filed through Narita Airport near Tokyo.

World Player of the Year, Ronaldinho, was ushered away by security guards as he went to sign autographs, with Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard the last man through the scrum.

Rijkaard is hoping to go one better than former Barca coach Johan Cruyff's dream team of 1992 by securing the club's first ever intercontinental trophy. Barcelona, led by Cruyff, lost 2-1 to São Paulo in the World Club Championship final in 1992.

The FIFA Club World Cup (formerly the FIFA Club World Championship) is a football competition contested between the leading clubs from all 6 continental confederations.

The first time this competition took place was in Brazil in January 2000. It was intended by FIFA to be a replacement for the Intercontinental Cup (also known as the Toyota Cup), which was contested annually in Tokyo, Japan by the champions of Europe and South America.

This new tournament encountered a few problems, with the competition cancelled between 2001/04 and FIFA eventually agreed terms with the Toyota Cup to merge the two competitions.

It was revived in 2005 with Brazilian Copa Libertadores da América champions São Paulo winning the competition in a narrow 1-0 victory over UEFA Champions League winners Liverpool FC.

This year Barcelona will be joined in the tournament by Oceania champions Auckland City FC, Ahly Sporting Club from Egypt, the African Champions League winners, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC from Asia, Mexico’s Club América and from Brazil, Sport Club Internacional.

The Spanish champions arrive on a high, currently top of Spain’s La Liga and with Ronaldinho underlining his return to form by hitting the winner against Real Sociedad on Saturday.

Barcelona open their campaign on Thursday, when they will play the winner of Monday's quarter-final match, Club America of Mexico, who beat Jeonbuk Motors 1-0.

The winners of that match will face either Ahly Sporting Club, who beat Auckland City FC 2-0 on Sunday, or Copa Libertadores da América champions Sport Club Internacional in the final on Sunday.

"We are getting ready for a very prestigious event. This is a very high-level trophy and we feel very happy to be able to participate in it," Rijkaard said.

Club president Joan Laporta said Barcelona were sharply focused on the tournament.

"We don't need motivation. It is the FIFA Club World Cup. And it is no longer just one game, but more," said Laporta.

"We have never won this title and so we are very keen to win it, because we don't have it in our trophy cabinet. We are well focused because we know it won't be easy.

"I hope we can win on Thursday and get into the final. We know that if we put the work in, we can win this trophy."