This season’s Club World Cup is going to be hosted in the UAE in early 2022 after it was moved from being hosted in Japan for later this year.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed the changed location and date for the competition, with Chelsea set to feature for the second time in their history.
The original tournament was going to be held in China for June and July, however, that was changed due to fixture congestion with the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was then moved to Japan for later in 2021, however the Japan Football Association dropped their commitment to it in September due to restrictions on fan attendance and the pandemic.
It will be the second time that the Blues have featured in the competition, the first in 2012 where they finished as runners-up to Brazilian side Corinthians.
The tournament consists of a team from every confederation who won their respective continental trophy. For Thomas Tuchel’s men, they qualified by winning the Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City. Kai Havertz’s calm finish just before half-time in Porto gave the Blues their second Champions League and their third European trophy.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “The council endorsed a meeting, a global summit meeting to take place in December this year with the aim of providing a presentation to all 211 member nations about the future of football, men’s football, women’s football, youth football, on 20th December.
“It was decided that the Club World Cup 2021 will be played in early 2022, the exact dates are still to be confirmed, but the hosts after the withdrawal of Japan because of the pandemic, the host will be the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, who have hosted this event already a few times as you know.
