FIFA Club World Cup: Chelsea to travel to United Arab Emirates for competition in early 2022
The games were due to be played in Japan, but they pulled out as hosts last month because of the high number of coronavirus cases in the country; the annual tournament features the champions of the different continents along with the host nation's national champions
Wednesday 20 October 2021 16:55, UK
This year's Club World Cup, which features Chelsea, will be held in the United Arab Emirates in early 2022, FIFA has confirmed.
The annual tournament features the champions of the different continents along with the host nation's national champions, with Chelsea qualifying as Champions League winners.
The exact dates of the rearranged Club World Cup are still to be announced.
The games were due to be played in Japan, but they pulled out as hosts last month because of the high number of coronavirus cases in the country.
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South Africa, Qatar and the UAE were quickly identified as possible new venues for the event, but South Africa announced a fortnight ago their own Covid-19 problems meant they had to withdraw.
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Qatar were already scheduled to host the Arab Cup in the first half of December.
Chelsea will face Egyptian side Al Ahly and New Zealand's Auckland City, who are among the 10 teams who have qualified for the tournament.
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, also announced during a FIFA Council meeting on Wednesday that a global summit would take place on December 20 with the aim of "presenting an agreed proposal" on football's new men's and women's international calendar.
Plans for the future look of football from 2024 include biennial World Cups.
The proposals have been met with opposition from European confederation UEFA, which has said it will stand against them "until common sense prevails and they are dropped".
Infantino recognised there had been many critical comments about the plans, but also "enthusiastic and positive comments".
"My objective is to bring everyone together," he said. "We must come together because we are talking about the global game."
He also said the 2022 FIFA Congress would be held in Doha on March 31, on the eve of the World Cup finals draw in the same location.
