On Friday, FIFA called Japan the host country for the FIFA Club World Cup 2021,with an unspecified date during late winter.
Following the postponement of the revised FIFA Club World Cup, which was originally expected to take place in 2021 in the slot previously reserved for the FIFA Confederations Cup, the Council agreed to organise a Club World Cup in the new seven-team format by the end of 2021 and to grant Japan the hosting rights for the tournament.
Japan is the eight-time host of the Club World Cup, most recently in 2016.
In 2019, for an expanded Club World Cup, FIFA said the Confederations Cup will be abolished. Next summer, China was supposed to host the tournament with a revised 24-team format, but due to fixture congestions caused by the corona virus pandemic, 25-play was delayed.
In March, in Europe and South America, the virus forced football confederations to postpone UEFA EURO 2020 and Copa America. These competitions will take place in the months of June and July.
Two FIFA Club World Cup tournaments will be held in 2021–a rare event for FIFA—as Qatar is scheduled to host the 2020 edition in February and the 2021 edition will be hosted by Japan next winter. The initial Club World Cup date was December, but in the middle of the pandemic, FIFA had to choose another date.
FIFA said last month that the 2020 edition of the Club World Cup will take place in Qatar on Feb. 1-11.