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12 Venues Announced For 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, Final To Be Held In New Jersey

admin — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 06:25:02 +0000

The final of next year’s expanded Club World Cup will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on Saturday. The stadium, which is home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, had already been chosen as the venue for the 2026 World Cup. The first edition of the expanded 32-club tournament will kick-off on June 15 and conclude at MetLife on July 13. A total of 12 venues will be used for the tournament with only two of them on the West Coast — the Rose Bowl in Pasadena near Los Angeles and Lumen Field in Seattle.

The tournament is taking place at the same time as the regional CONCACAF Gold Cup which will be held mainly on the West Coast.

The other venues which will host games are — Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), TQL Stadium (Cincinnati), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), GEODIS Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium (Orlando), Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) and Audi Field (Washington, D.C.).

The draw for the tournament will be held in December — 30 of the 32 places have already been secured through the qualification procedure.

The Club World Cup will feature title winning teams from each of FIFA’s continental confederations.

Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are among the 12 European teams who have qualified for the tournament while Argentina’s River Plate and Boca Juniors and Brazil’s Flamengo are among six South American teams.

“This new FIFA competition is the only true example in worldwide club football of real solidarity and inclusivity, allowing the best clubs from Africa, Asia, Central and North America and Oceania to play the powerhouses of Europe and South America in an incredible new World Cup which will impact enormously the growth of club football and talent globally,” said Infantino.

The FIFA president announced the venues on stage at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York.

FIFA also announced a four-year partnership with Global Citizen to support their anti-poverty initiatives. As part of the agreement Global Citizen will produce the half-time show at the 2026 World Cup final.

Key test

The tournament will be viewed as a key test ahead of the 2026 World Cup itself and there will be a focus on security issues after crowd problems at July’s Copa America games at the stadiums in Charlotte and Miami.

FIFA has yet to announce any broadcast deals or sponsorship contracts for the tournament and the competition has faced some opposition within the game.

FIFpro and the European Leagues body filed a joint complaint to the European Commission against FIFA over the introduction of the tournament into the international match calendar.

Opponents of the new tournament have said it adds further congestion to an already crowded schedule and increases the workload of players.

The last version of the Club World Cup featured seven teams in a knockout format and was won by Manchester City who beat Brazil’s Fluminense in the final in Saudi Arabia.

FIFA plan to hold the expanded tournament every four years although no host as yet to be chosen for the 2029 edition.

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Cristiano Ronaldo Helps Al Nassr To Historic Asian Champions League Win

admin — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 02:53:12 +0000

Cristiano Ronaldo enjoyed a winning debut in the Asian Champions League as he helped Al Nassr to a 2-0 victory against 10-man Persepolis in Iran on Tuesday night. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who has five UEFA Champions League titles to his name, captained the Saudi Arabian side to an opening three points in Group E. The match at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran was played without fans after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) upheld a one-game ban for Persepolis supporters dating back to 2021.

That clearly helped Nassr, who grabbed both goals in the second half against the two-time runners-up, through a Danial Esmaeilifar own goal and a fine strike by defender Mohammed Qassem.

It marked the first time a Saudi club played in Iran since 2016, after the AFC announced a “ground-breaking agreement” earlier this month between the two countries’ federations.

Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties seven years ago, meaning Asian Champions League matches had been since played at neutral grounds.

Ronaldo, 38, was heavily involved throughout, twice going close in the first half.

His initial chance – a powerful, close-range header – was sent straight at Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand which left Ronaldo beating the post in frustration.

Nassr’s hopes grew considerably at the beginning of the second half, when Persepolis midfielder Milad Sarlak was given a second yellow card, this time for appearing to stamp on Ronaldo’s boot.

Replays showed it was unintentional, the contact minimal.

Ronaldo played a key role in Nassr’s opener just after the hour, the Portuguese instigating the move that led to Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s blocked shot cannoning off Persepolis full-back Esmaeilifar and nestling in the net.

Ten minutes later, Nassr left-back Mohammed Qassem broke down the left and thumped his shot high past Beiranvand to double the visitors’ advantage and secure the points.

– Incheon win –

In the group’s other match, Iran’s Istiklol were held to a goalless draw in Dushanbe by Qatari heavyweights Al Duhail.

In Group A, 2003 winners Al Ain secured an impressive 3-0 victory at Pakhtakor in Tashkent, while Turkmenistan side Ahal defeated Saudi opponents Al Fayha 1-0 at home to record only a second win in the competition.

In the East Asian side of the draw, South Korea’s Incheon United opened their Group G account with a 4-2 win over J.League champions Yokohama F Marinos in Japan.

As a result, Incheon sit on three points alongside Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan, who were made to work for their 3-1 victory in Manila over Kaya-FC Iloilo of the Philippines.

In Group I, South Korean champions, and 2020 Asian Champions League winners, Ulsan Hyundai won at home over Thailand’s BG Pathum United 3-1, while Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale saw off hosts Johor Darul Ta’zim 1-0 in Malaysia.

The group stage, which this year returned to a home-and-away format for the first time since early 2020, runs until mid-December, with the 10 pool winners and the six best second-placed teams advancing to the knockout rounds.

That begins in February with the final taking place across two legs in May.

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