By Andrew Warshaw
December 4 – The Club World Cup, which many assumed would be a thing of the past in its current anachronistic guise following its next edition in Qatar in February, is being continued by FIFA with Gianni Infantino declaring the importance of defending the interests of the “global” club game.
Following the final FIFA Council meeting of 2020, Infantino revealed that a slot had been found for yet another old-style CWC tournament in December 2021, to take place in Japan comprising the traditional seven teams from across the globe.
Like the now discarded Confederations Cup, the current format of the Club World Cup struggles to attract mainstream interest, especially in Europe.
But with its much-trumpeted expanded version of the tournament, which had been due to take place next year in China, squeezed off the calendar because of the effects of Covid-19, FIFA has chosen not to ditch the tournament altogether – and will now hold it twice within 10 months in the same year.
Infantino justified maintaining the tournament by saying club football had to maintain its “global” image, implying it should not be simply be dominated by Europe.
Once the expanded 24-team competition begins and it is still very much “on the agenda”, he said – the CWC would become “the best club competition in the world”.
In what could be interpreted as a veiled dig at UEFA and Europe’s biggest leagues, Infantino said FIFA was “the only organisation that is investing all its revenues all over the world” rather than among “a very limited number of clubs or stakeholders or national associations.”
Infantino was also asked for his views on the resignation of English FA chairman Greg Clarke, who was a FIFA vice-president and sat on the Council.
Clarke was forced to quit last month after referring to black footballers as “coloured” while giving evidence to a group of parliamentarians. “In the circumstances and given the nature of his comments, he did the right thing,” Infantino said. “Of course on a personal level I’m sad but it was the right decision to step down.”
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