Dismay after FIFA postpone club championship

FIFA's decision to postpone the world club championship until 2003 has been greeted with dismay by both hosts and clubs due to play in the event. The tournament, scheduled to kick off in July in Spain, was a victim of financial difficulties and fixture congestion, according to FIFA's announcement on Friday.

But the decision was greeted with disappointment by clubs hoping to take part in the money-spinner, several of whom were also waiting for official confirmation from FIFA. Prize money was to have totalled $40 million, with the winners taking home eight million.

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), who were preparing to host the event from July 28 to August 12, were upset by FIFA's move. "We accept the decision but we are quite upset because all the preparations were under way," RFEF spokesman Jorge Perez told reporters. "A week ago there was a top-level meeting in Zurich and we were made aware of the problems that existed but we undertook to go ahead with the tournament."

Disappointment was also shared by clubs, both big and small. Spanish giants Real Madrid, one of the host clubs and who were to represent Europe in the tournament, had geared their entire season to the ill-fated event.

Real's season

Real's sporting director Jorge Valdano said: "We were aware of the difficulties that FIFA was having in making the tournament financially viable and we accept the decision, albeit with resignation because the whole season was designed around the competition. It is true the timing of the competition was not ideal but we had accepted it and we were fully prepared for it to take place."

Australia's Wollongong Wolves, winners of the Oceania title, who will miss out on a guaranteed purse of US$2.7 million, said it would have a major impact on their future plans. Soccer is a comparatively minor sport in Australia and the leading clubs struggle to attract the big crowds and sponsorship deals regularly seen in cricket, rugby and Australian Rules football.

"This is a lot of money to us and would have really helped set the club up financially," the club's managing director Graeme Haney said. "A lot of our plans and progress was tied to this tournament and so we're going to have to review our plans."

Japan's Jubilo Iwata, runaway J-League leaders and due to be Asia's representatives in Spain, would not comment on Saturday, saying they had heard nothing officially from FIFA.

Waiting to hear

Wolves were also still waiting for official word, as were Real, fellow Spaniards Deportivo Coruna and Brazilian club Palmeiras. "I don't believe FIFA would postpone the tournament without first telling the participating clubs," said Palmeiras director Americo Faria.

It was a particularly painful blow for the Brazilians as Palmeiras should have taken part in the inaugural tournament in Brazil last year because, as winners of the 1999 Libertadores Cup, they were reigning South American champions at the time.

But they missed out on that as well when the South American Football Confederation chose instead to give their place to Vasco da Gama, who won the Libertadores Cup in 1998 -- 18 months before the competition was held.

The second edition of the tournament in 2001 would have involved clubs who had won major championships in FIFA's six continental confederations plus a host team, Deportivo.

The postponement is an embarrassment for FIFA president Sepp Blatter, particularly after his early optimism last year. In the February 2000 issue of FIFA's newsletter, published a month after the Brazil tournament, Blatter wrote: "All in all... I have no doubt that the FIFA world club championship is here to stay."