The UAE will host the next Club World Cup early in 2022, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced on Wednesday.
The latest edition of the tournament — which features the champions of the six continental confederations along with the top team in the host nation — was due to be played at the end of this year in Japan before it pulled out as host because of the pandemic.
The UAE capital has staged the Club World Cup four times before in 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2018.
At the FIFA council meeting in Zurich, Gianni Infantino confirmed the event would be held in Abu Dhabi and that it had been pushed back to early 2022.
Infantino said: “The council endorsed a meeting, a global summit meeting to take place in December this year with the aim of providing a presentation to all 211 member nations about the future of football, men’s football, women’s football, youth football, on 20th December.
“It was decided that the Club World Cup 2021 will be played in early 2022, the exact dates are still to be confirmed, but the hosts after the withdrawal of Japan because of the pandemic, the host will be the United Arab Emirates, who have hosted this event already a few times as you know.”
The Club World Cup will feature European Champions, Chelsea; African Champions, Al Ahly; Jazira, the host nation’s league champion, who captured last season’s Arabian Gulf League, and other continental club champions.
