October 21 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will replace Japan as hosts for the 2021 Club World Cup, with the tournament that should have taken place in December now to be rescheduled for early next year.
”It was decided (at the FIFA Council meeting) that the Club World Cup 2021 will be played in early 2022, the precise dates are still to be defined, but the hosts after the withdrawal of Japan because of the pandemic, the hosts will be the UAE…” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Japan had been due to stage the tournament but withdrew because of the coronavirus crisis, even though Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games this summer. South Africa then pondered a bid, but covid travel restrictions and limitations on stadium capacity formed too much of an obstacle to proceed with serious interest.
With FIFA left scrambling, Infantino announced on Wednesday that the UAE have stepped in to host the tournament. It will be the fourth time the Gulf country stages the Club World Cup after organising the 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2018 editions.
Chelsea will represent Europe as Champions League winners with Al Ahly returning to the competition as African champions. Next month, Brazilian clubs Flamengo and Palmeiras meet in the final of the Copa Libertadores to determine South America’s finalist, while Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal and South Korea’s Pohang Steelers will face off in the Asian Champions League final.
Concacaf will decide their representative next week with the winner of their Champions League final between Mexico’s CF Monterrey and Club America going forward to the UAE finals. In the Club World Cup played earlier this year in Qatar, Mexico’s Tigres UANL became the first Concacaf club to reach the final, only to be beaten by Bayern Munich.
The annual competition brings together the champions from the six global confederations as well as the host nation’s league winners, but FIFA want to expand the Club World Cup to 24-teams. China had been slated to stage the tournament in this new format in 2021, but those plans have been put on hold because of the global health crisis.
FIFA didn’t announce any dates yet for the competition, but with Cameroon staging the Africa Cup of Nations in January, February looks most likely.
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