Qatar to host Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020
Qatar will host the Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020, world football governing body FIFA has announced.
The winners of the seven main club competitions around the world play in the Club World Cup annually.
On Monday, FIFA said it chose Qatar to host the next two editions of the tournament in order to help the tiny Gulf nation prepare for hosting the 2022 World Cup - the premiere competition in international football, held every four years.
"The upcoming editions of the seven-team [Club World Cup] competition will serve as valuable test events in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup 2022," FIFA said in a statement.
FIFA added that the timing of the tournaments - usually around the start of December - "corresponds with that of the next FIFA World Cup, allowing for testing under similar climatic conditions".
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
The World Cup is usually organised over the summer between national teams. But due to concerns over Qatar's scorching summer temperatures, FIFA decided to hold the 2022 tournament in the winter.
The last Club World Cup was held in late 2018 in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates.
Spain's Real Madrid won that tournament after a 4-1 victory over the Asian champions, the UAE's Al-Ain.
European teams have dominated the Club World Cup since its inception in 2000, winning the last six editions. No team outside of Europe and South America has ever won the competition.
Last year, however, Al-Ain became the second Arab team to reach the final after Morocco's Raja Casablanca, which lost to Bayern Munich in 2013.
Confirmed participants for the 2019 tournament include Liverpool, which won Europe's Champions League on Saturday, and ES Tunis, which was crowned Africa's CAF Champions League winner on Friday.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
