Qatar to host two FIFA Club World Cups

Article posted by Coliseum, June 24^th, 2019

Image: SC

The next two Club World Cups, in December this year and in 2020, will be played in Qatar as preparation for the 2022 World Cup, Al-Jazeera reported citing the global football governing body FIFA.

The seven-team club tournament, which will include European champion Liverpool this year, will be played in December and in December 2020, FIFA confirmed, according to the Doha-based media organization.

“It is an amazing test competition for us. We will try to use the Club World Cup as a test in as many ways as possible,” Hassan Al-Thawadi, chief of the local Qatari organising committee for 2022 said.

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That includes coping with an influx of potentially thousands of fans who will want to drink alcohol, which is currently only available for foreigners in a limited number of bars in Qatar.

“Alcohol will be available in certain areas,” Al-Thawadi said. “The details of it operationally, how it’s going to work out, all that stuff will be put in place and we will be announcing it in due course.

“We will have fan zones available so it will be a great opportunity for us to put in place some of the plans we have for the World Cup already to get lessons learned from it.”

The decision to give Qatar the Club World Cup comes two weeks after FIFA settled on 32 countries for the 2022 World Cup rather than expanding to 48 teams.

The Club World Cup has recently been held in Japan and the United Arab Emirates with seven competing teams – six continental champions and a team from the host nation.

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