Although still awaiting ratification from the Executive Committee, FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s desire to see the club competition established on the calendar has taken a mighty step forward.
Under the chairmanship of Russian Dr Viacheslav Koloskov the organising committee for the tournament has proposed the next championship be played in one of the associations from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) on July 17-31 2005.
Furthermore, the committee also confirmed the championship as a
biennial FIFA event and proposed that Asia host the competition in 2007.
In terms of the framework for the championship, the committee proposed a 16-team format, with a qualification structure to be disclosed in the future.
The FIFA Executive Committee's March 2002 decision to organise a world championship for clubs as from 2005 was unanimously confirmed by the FIFA family with the ratification of the revised FIFA Statutes at the extraordinary congress in Doha, Qatar earlier this month.
Said Blatter: “It's a question of solidarity.
“The key is to have worldwide representation within a compelling format that is attractive not just to the clubs and fans, but to the entire football family. I am pleased to say that today's meeting set us on exactly the right course."
The inaugural event in Brazil in 2000 was perceived as a commercial failure, with little to no interest outside of FIFA’s existing commercial partners to get involved.
It left Brazilian marketing firm Traffic facing a tough sell for 2001 – although the event was postponed prior to it kicking off.
As reported yesterday on sportbusiness.com
