FIFA to decide on World Club Championship
FIFA will decide on Monday whether the World Club Championship, due to be held in Spain at the end of July, will go ahead as planned, the Spanish Football Federation has said.
FIFA will decide on Monday whether the World Club Championship, due to be held in Spain at the end of July, will go ahead as planned, the Spanish Football Federation has said. "We have been informed that there will be a FIFA meeting on Monday to discuss the future of the competition," said a spokeswoman for the RFEF.
"The matter is now a decision for FIFA who are organising the competition." The tournament groups clubs who have won major championships in FIFA's six continental confederations plus a host team, in Spain's case Deportivo Coruna. The meeting comes 24 hours after the decision by FIFA, world soccer's governing body, to end its marketing agreement with ISL Worldwide after French media group Vivendi ended talks on a takeover of ISL's troubled parent company ISMM.
ISL was responsible for marketing major FIFA tournaments including the World Cup in 2002. The Spanish federation spokeswoman said she had no details about why FIFA had called Monday's meeting. The inaugural club championship, won by Brazil's Corinthians, took place in January last year in Brazil and the event in Spain is due to take place from July 28 to August 12.
Clubs taking part include Argentina's Boca Juniors, Palmeiras of Brazil and Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal.
Prize money totals 40 million dollars with the winners taking home eight million.
Last month FIFA said it planned to expand the championship to 16 teams from 12 in a bid to improve the tournament's standing in the game.