Saudi Arabia chosen to host Club World Cup in December
HOSTS: The next edition of the Club World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. Pic: Mosa’ab Elshamy/AP
Saudi Arabia has been chosen to host the Club World Cup in December.
The FIFA Council, made up of representatives from all the continental confederations, unanimously selected the Middle East state as hosts for the seven-team event, which is scheduled to run from December 12 to 22.
The country has also been reported to be bidding to co-host the 2030 men’s World Cup with Egypt and Greece, alongside rival confirmed bids from Spain, Portugal and Ukraine and one from four South American nations.
The Council confirmed the FIFA Congress would make a decision on who would host those finals in the third quarter of next year.
A decision on the hosts for the 2027 Women’s World Cup will be taken by FIFA Congress in the second quarter of next year, the Council agreed.
The FIFA Council also confirmed the new-look, 32-team Club World Cup starting in the summer of 2025 would feature 12 European teams. FIFA president Gianni Infantino first revealed plans for the new competition on the eve of last year’s World Cup final in Qatar.
The Council also confirmed that all three 2026 men’s World Cup co-hosts – Canada, Mexico and the United States – would qualify automatically for the competition.
It also approved the FIFA Annual Report for 2022 which included revenues of 7.6billion US dollars (£6.25bn) for the 2019-22 cycle, and projected earnings of 11bn US dollars (£9.05bn) for the 2023-26 cycle.
FIFA said 5.3bn US dollars (£4.4bn) was invested back into football in the 2019-22 cycle, with 10bn earmarked for reinvestment in 2023-26.
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