China was selected as the host for the first edition of the new and expanded 24-team FIFA Club World Cup…
Before the 2021 competition, Qatar will hold the 2019 and 2020 edition of the FIFA Cub World Cup in the old format. (Photo: FIFA.com)
China was selected as the host for the first edition of the new and expanded 24-team FIFA Club World Cup in 2021, informed the football body’s President Gianni Infantino after a meeting of the decision-making council in Shanghai.
The tournament would be conducted in June-July of that year and Infantino announced that the format, slot allocation and selection criteria would be decided in next few weeks.
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Though the exact breakdown of the slots was not known, it was revealed that there would be eight European clubs and five-six teams from South America. While host nation China and Oceania will have their representation in the form of one club each, there will be three clubs each from the other three continental confederations.
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“It is a historic decision for football. The new (tournament) will be a competition which anyone who loves football is looking forward to. It is the first real and true (Club) World Cup where the best clubs will compete,” Infantino was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.
Speaking about the financial benefits of the tournament, the President said that it will have a huge impact on the game as the football body will reinvest the revenue for the betterment of football.
“It will allow us to generate significant revenues but I want to underline this, very, very clearly …..FIFA will have zero out of this because we will reinvest this in football,” he said.
Meanwhile, the tournament has faced strong oppositions from European clubs who cited that there was no room for the global tournament in the already-packed calendar of football.
Currently, the Club World Cup is only played by seven teams and is held in December of every year. Before the 2021 competition, Qatar will hold the 2019 and 2020 edition in the old format.
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