ZURICH — The Club World Cup is unlikely to take place in December as scheduled due to the pandemic disruption delaying the crowning of continental champions, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Friday.
The seven-club competition was due to be staged for a second consecutive year by Qatar as part of preparations for the Gulf nation hosting the World Cup in 2022.
“Some confederations will probably not conclude their Champions Leagues until December, it is unlikely that this event will take place in December of this year as was originally planned,” Infantino said. “But we are discussing, we are monitoring, we are seeing if it can be hosted in Qatar maybe at the beginning of the year (in 2021) instead of the end of this year.
“We certainly want to see if we can keep it, but we will do that consulting all the confederations and all the participating clubs and then take the best decision for football.”
The competition brings together the club champions from the six regional confederations plus the domestic champion of the host nation. Only Bayern Munich has qualified so far internationally after winning the UEFA Champions League last month.
