What we know so far: When is it? 17 June – 4 July Where is it? China How many teams? 24 clubs in eight groups of three. How will qualification be handled? Undecided. But there are some rumors. What will be the venues? Undecided. But several venues of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be ready in time.
about 3 hours ago · #19 The Chinese Football Association will anounce the host cities for 2021 FIFA Club World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup in November, currently there are 18 cities bidding for 2023 Asian Cup, 8 to 10 cities will host the event, CFA will also select 6 to 8 cities for CWC from these 18 cities. list of 18 candidate cities Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an, Nanjing, Shenyang, Qingdao, Ningbo, Dalian, Changsha, Taiyuan, Luoyang, Ordos, Suzhou in June 2018 CFA list 12 cities as proposal cities for 2023 Asian Cup they are Beijing, Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha and Wuhan among these cities, Shanghai (planned final venue for 2023 Asian Cup),Dalian,Xi'an,Wuhan,Chongqing, Suzhou(Kunshan),Chengdu,Qingdao had Started construction of new stadiums all of them are specific for football with no tracks
Under construction: Shanghai - Pudong Football Stadium, Capacity: 33,765, Club: Shanghai SIPG, open date : 2021 design:https://www.hpp.com/en/projects/fallstudien/pudong-soccer-arena/ Chongqing - Two Lake Football Center, Capacity 46,800 Club: Chongqing Dangdai Lifan, open date:2022 Chengdu - Phoenix Mountain football stadium, capacity 55,590 open date: 2022 Wuhan - Tazi lake football stadium, capacity:30,000 club: Wuhan Zall, open date: 2022 Xi'an -Fengdong football stadium, capacity 40,000 planned open date: before 2023 Planed Dalian - Dalian diamond bay Football Stadium, Capacity 39,800 club: Dalian Yifang, construction start in 2020, planned open date: before 2023 Qingdao — Sunshine new city football stadium, capacity 52,800 construction start in 2020,planned open date: before 2023 Suzhou, Kunshan city - Eastern City Sports park football stadium, capacity 45,000 constrction start January 2020, planned open date 2022 Under renovate Tianjin - Teda Football Stadium, capacity 36,390, club Tianjin Teda, open date: 2004
ASEAN Club Championship winner in FIFA Club World Cup? https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/...llion-prize-purse-slot-in-fifa-club-world-cup I only imagine the outrage if the ASEAN region gets one of the three Asian spots.
If AFC is doing that for representation of underrepresented regions or whatever, they should include SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) in the process also somehow. 7 SAFF League winners play a tournament, winner advances to playoff against AFF winner?
AFC pours cold water on AFF’s Club World Cup qualification claim: https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/afc-pours-cold-water-on-affs-club-world-cup-qualification-claim/ Well, that didn't take long.
So if the going rumor is that Conmebol will send champions from both the Libertadores and the Sudamericana...then Ecuador's Independiente del Valle just qualified for this Club World Cup, right?
Yep... a team that has been in Ecuador’s top division for less than a decade and has never won their domestic league.
From here: Sounds like quite the story. What's their background? I distinctly remember Liga de Quito's Libertadores triumph in 2008 on a budget of USD six million. They acquitted themselves formidably at the CWC, losing only 1:0 to Manchester United.
I’m no expert in Ecuadorian football, but the difference between the two stories is that LDUQ actually had some history at the domestic level prior to their international feat. Unlike Independiente del Valle, they had already won their local league title 9 times before playing the CWC. Another big difference is that Liga’s roster featured several international players if I recall correctly, while Independiente only have 2 players in the current Ecuador squad (one of them without any prior caps, I may add). I am by no means ruling out Independiente del Valle from performing well in the CWC, but you also have to consider the difference between the achievements of the two sides if you’re going to make comparisons: Liga’s 2008 participation was due to winning the Copa Libertadores—CONMEBOL’s most prestigious title—, while Independiente have qualified to the 2021 CWC by nature of winning the Copa Sudamericana, a second-rate title which most of the powerful teams of the continent do not participate in due to being involved in the Libertadores (think River, Gremio, Boca, Flamengo, etc). Liga was therefore much more tested than Independiente del Valle and had to get through much tougher rivals to make it to the intercontiental stage. Once again, not knocking Independiente del Valle... they did their thing and eliminated powerhouses like Corinthians and Independiente (ARG) in the process, but they are far from being one of the top teams in the continent (or even their own country, historically) and not much should be expected from them, even given LDUQ’s positive impression in the past.
So now we get to play the fun game of "How many players will still be on this squad by 2021?" OTOH, if the money's right, this might just spark a resurgence of club loyalty, e.g. Gaby Torres passing on anything short of a mid-level European offer in the hopes of raking in the bonuses with IDV in two years' time.
CONMEBOL has requested to have two more CWC slots to be on par with the amount of UEFA representatives https://www.tycsports.com/futbol-in...-para-el-mundial-de-clubes-2021-20191112.html (article is in spanish)
Yeah, unlikely, but it's still CONMEBOL's president pushing for it (in the article he is quoted as saying he directly asked Infantino for the change)... so who knows... we're not talking about some random press rumor or minor faction proposal.
FIFA’s Infantino backs new World Club organisation at founding event in Zurich: http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...orld-club-organisation-founding-event-zurich/
2nd or 3rd paragraph is interesting.- "Founded with eight clubs representing the six confederations (though not officially), the group so far doesn’t have any Brazilian, English, German or French representation and arguably misses two of Europe’s club giants in Barcelona and Juventus."
New World Club Association Could Shake Up Soccer’s Club Politics (Forbes) According to this the CAF ExCo has decided that all African representatives will come from the 2021 CAF CL. No mention of any country restriction but then again the maximum number of clubs an association can have in the CAF CL is 2.
Human Rights Watch accuses FIFA of ‘double-standards’ over CWC award to China One thing is for sure, I would certainly like to see a proper bidding process for the 2025 CWC after 2019, 2020 and 2021 were awarded to Qatar and China behind closed doors.
According to this AFC media release, the AFC will have 3.5 spots at the 2021 CWC: https://www.the-afc.com/competition...tive-committee-enhances-future-afc-asian-cups
So it looks like the confederations outside UEFA and CONMEBOL are simply using their preceding club championship for the 2021 CWC: AFC - Host & 2020 Champions League 1. Host (CSL) 2. Winner 3. Runner-up 3.5 Third Place (determined in playoff) I guess that means the 2020 ACL winner will qualify for both, the 2020 and 2021 CWC. That certainly raises the stakes for next year. CAF - 2020/2021 Champions League 1. Winner 2. Runner-up 3. Third Place (determined by playoff) I wonder if CAF will just ask the semifinalists to play their playoff at the neutral venue final as part of a doubleheader. I guess the above also confirms a mere 0.5 spot for the OFC. But it won't be against the host as anticipated. That leaves CONCACAF. I can't shake the bad feeling that the C'CAF ExCo will engineer something to place a MLS team in the competition. Hope I'm wrong. When is the C'CAF ExCo meeting next?
FIFA explores commercial options for new club world cup tournament: https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/who...ial-options-for-new-club-world-cup-tournament Unique name? With a sponsor in it?
"... and the format wil provide unrivalled entertainment..." I can't wait to see three-team groups. Yaaaay!
Infantino: You will watch three-team groups, and you will like it, Mister! Kind of a shame that none of the confederations currently running 24-team tournaments (UEFA, CAF, AFC) is willing to be FIFA's guinea pig and give 3-team groups a try And here I'm only half-joking: at best, the 3-team group stage would be more entertaining than what we have now, and at worst it would be mercifully shorter.