October 21 – FIFA is expected to confirm China this week as host for its 24-team Club World Cup in 2021, overcoming opposition from Europe. The revamped tournament will provide the Zurich-based body with a new revenue stream.
The FIFA Council is heading to Shanghai for its quarterly meeting later this week with the CWC hosting high on the agenda.
Since the FifaGate scandal that engulfed the world federation, western companies have pulled out of their sponsorship agreements with FIFA leaving a void their Chinese counterparts were eager to fill, bolstering FIFA through an unstable period. Vivo, a mobile phone firm producing China’s version of the iPhone at a fraction of the price; the TV and fridge maker Hisense; the electric scooter company Yadea; and Dalian Wanda, a conglomerate controlled by the multibillionaire Wang Jianlin, have been among FIFA’s new found key commercial backers.
This year’s Club World Cup and the 2020 edition will be staged by Qatar in a warm-up exercise for the hosts of the 2022 World Cup, but the 2021 iteration of the Club World Cup does not yet have a host.
In 2021 the format of the tournament will however be altered in a bid to generate a new revenue stream for the world federation. In its current 8-team format the tournament has been somewhat unloved and unwanted, in particular in Europe. Staged in December, the tournament interferes with the domestic season and is perceived as having little prestige.
The new tournament is both a huge defeat and marginal victory for FIFA boss Gianni Infantino. He was forced to scale down his ambition after his supposed plans to sell off two FIFA competitions to an international consortium, including Japan’s SoftBank and London-based Centricus, guaranteeing an extraordinary windfall of $25 billion for an expanded Club World Cup and a World Nations League.
The 2021 tournament will replace the Confederations Cup, another FIFA tournament that failed to ignite and predominantly functioned as a warmup for World Cup hosts.
Europe opposed an expanded Club World Cup tout court, seeing it as a minor power grab by FIFA, but ultimately relented, allowing Infantino to propose a 24-team tournament with eight European participants instead of 12. Who will represent Europe is still to be decided, but the winners of the Champions League and Europa League are the most likely candidates.
In South America, the CBF has already opposed an initial proposal by Conmbol to introduce a new Super Cup tournament to select the last two regional representatives for the 2021 tournament.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1735103278labto1735103278ofdlr1735103278owedi1735103278sni@o1735103278fni1735103278