Observers were confident FIFA president Sepp Blatter would use the lure of staging the return of the club competition in the US – hotly tipped to host the event and a hugely lucrative untapped market for many of the big teams - as a means of convincing European clubs opposed to its resurrection.
But in confirming the format of the tournament, FIFA have confirmed it will now be staged in Japan. The Asian market is the fastest growing for the sport – especially following the success of the 2002 FIFA World Cup – and the move is seen as a way of both building on the sport’s explosion in the Far East, and giving clubs an incentive to travel.
Following a meeting in Zurich, the organising committee of the tournament for the 2005 and 2006 event, also confirmed it would take place every December.
The number of teams competing will be six, the champions of each confederation’s club championship in the respective year, with just seven games in total spread over an eight-day period.
This decision now needs to be ratified by the Executive Committee at its next meeting, in London on February 29, 2004.
The Club World Championship – which was originally staged in Brazil in January 2000 – was ditched after just one year after lack of commercial interest. Although FIFA would eventually shelve future tournaments, blaming the collapse of ISL.
A financial settlement between Traffic, the Brazilian marketing agency for the abandoned 2001 tournament, and FIFA is still subject to arbitration.
