The tournament, which features the champions of each of the continental federations, has been held in Japan since 2005, and Fifa have agreed that it will be hosted there again in 2011 and 2012. Australia, which had been hoping to use the event to boost a bid to host the 2018 World Cup, were overlooked completely.
Explaining Fifa’s decision at a news conference in Sydney, Fifa president Sepp Blatter said: “We wanted to bring the Club World Cup to other countries. To play it in the UAE will be beneficial from a marketing standpoint…And the fact that they pledged $5 million for grassroots development helped their case.”
Addressing Australia’s failure to win any hosting rights, Mr Blatter said that timing and distance had counted against their bid. The competition is played during one week in December, in the middle of the European domestic season. Mr Blatter assured Australia that “when bidding for the World Cup comes around, distances will not come into consideration.”
Football’s world governing body also announced they had awarded the 2010 women’s Under-17 World Cup to Trinidad and Tobago, the 2011 men’s Under-17 World Cup to Mexico and the 2011 Under-20 World Cup to Colombia.
