The 2023 Club World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia. This was announced by the world football association FIFA after a council meeting.
One year after the World Cup in Qatar, the next country on the Persian Gulf will be able to hold a major football event from December 12th to 22nd. The decision was unanimous. The tournament will then take place in the current format with seven clubs including the European Champions League winners.
Saudi Arabia positions itself
Saudi Arabia has been positioning itself as an organizer of major sporting events for years. Five-time world footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing in the Saudi league since this year, and the country is also positioning itself to host the 2030 World Cup. Like its neighbor Qatar, Saudi Arabia has also been criticized for human rights violations. The relationship between the two countries has been complicated and marked by rivalry for years.
From 2025, the already decided and much criticized increase in the Club World Cup to 32 teams will apply. The field of participants should be made up as follows: Europe will receive twelve starting places, South America six, Asia, Africa and the combination of North and Central America and the Caribbean four each, Oceania one. The host country is also firmly involved. It is not yet clear who will host the premiere. However, the tournament is scheduled to take place in June/July 2025.
FIFA posts record revenue
The annual report released by the Council on Tuesday also revealed that FIFA posted a record $7.6 billion in revenue for the 2019-2022 cycle. This increased revenue by more than a billion compared to the previous period.
“FIFA’s unprecedented investments in football are the result of our solid financial transparency and a concrete example of how we aim to make football truly global“said President Gianni Infantino. “The resounding success of the World Cup in Qatar has been key to the organisation’s ability to fulfill its mission in relation to our member associations and the world of football, despite the multiple challenges we have faced over the past cycle, not least the Covid- 19 pandemic.”
Plenty of reward for Infantino
For the period from 2023 to 2026, FIFA expects a profit of eleven billion US dollars (a good 10.2 billion euros). The financial report also provides information on the remuneration of top personnel: FIFA President Infantino will receive 3.6 million Swiss francs (3.65 million euros) in the coming year.