FIFA Football in Qatar Gets Underway Early in 2021

In February 2021, the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup will kick off in Doha, Qatar. The tournament will see teams from the world’s six football confederations fly into Qatar on a campaign to become club world champions, alongside the host nations national league winners.

The tournament, which was to be hosted in December 2020, was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosting the tournament in Qatar, for the second time, will not only provide a great opportunity to test the 2022 World Cup hosts event readiness, but it will also be another feather in the nation’s cap in terms of the battle against coronavirus. Since the pandemic began, Qatar has successfully hosted several domestic and continental football sporting events. The Club World Cup will be the nation’s first international event during COVID-times, and its success will cement Qatar’s competence as a host to the world.

FIFA Club World Cup

The Club World Cup is an annual international football tournament in which seven teams battle it out to be crowned world champions. The seven squads are drawn from the corresponding year’s winners of the six football confederation continental championships and the host nation’s national league championship winner.

The tournament, founded in 2000, is a straight knock-out tournament. The current format sees the host nation and the Oceania Champions League title holders contest the playoff round. The winner goes forward to play in the quarter-finals with the Champions League winners from Asia, Africa and North America. The quarter-final victors then challenge the European UEFA Champions League winners and the South American Copa Libertadores champions for a place in the final. 

Real Madrid has won the competition four times, the most of any club entered into the competition. Nationally, Spain, alongside three tournament wins from Barcelona, has won the most titles, with Brazil a close second. Current champions, Liverpool Football Club (FC), won the last tournament in 2019, hosted by Qatar.

Qatar has entered the competition once so far, in 2011 in Japan. On that occasion, AFC Asian Champions League winners, Al Sadd FC won 3rd place. In the upcoming tournament, the host nation’s 2020 national league champions, Al Duhail Sports Club (SC) will be hoping to equal or improve that record on home turf.

The Schedule...So Far

February 1st

The 2020 Club World Cup is scheduled to take place between February 1st and February 11th 2021. The opening match between the host nation and Oceania’s squad, Auckland City FC, will kick-off at the newly inaugurated Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Qatar’s Al Rayyan on the 1st. 

February 4th

The quarter-finals will get underway on February 4th. They will include South Korean squad Ulsan Hyundai for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Egypt’s Al Ahly SC for the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and Tigres UANL for North and Central America and the Caribbean confederation, CONCACAF. The games will be played out at two of Qatar’s other World Cup 2022 stadiums, Khalifa International Stadium and Education City Stadium.

February 7/8th

The semi-finals and the match for 5th place will take place on February 7th and 8th. Joining the winners from the quarter-finals will be European Champions League winners, FC Bayern Munich, and the winners of the South American Copa Libertadores final - to be decided on January 30th. The semis will be held at the Ahmad bin Ali and Khalifa International Stadiums, and the 5th Place decider at Education City Stadium.

February 11th

The tournament final on February 11th will be hosted in Education City Stadium, as will the match for 3rd place.

The draw to finalise the tournament pairings will take place in Zurich on January 19th.

Qatar’s World Cup Stadiums

Three of Qatar’s new World Cup 2022 stadiums - Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium - will host the 2020 Club World Cup tournament. The games will provide test events for stadium organisers to put the facilities, and the site’s management plans, through its paces. It will also be an opportunity for players and officials to access playing conditions in Qatar, and, potentially, for fans to watch the excitement on the pitch.

Ahmad bin Ali Stadium

Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, located in Al Rayyan, is the latest stadium to be completed before the 2022 tournament. On December 18th 2020, Qatar National Day, the stadium was inaugurated as it played host to the final of Qatar's most prestigious domestic football championships, the Amir Cup. The new state-of-the-art stadium, 23km west of Doha city centre, can accommodate up to 40,000 football fans per match - on December 18th 20,000 fans were invited to attend the game. The presence of fans in such numbers was a first since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a culmination of many months of planning and organisation to ensure the safety of players, fans, officials and staff. Hopefully, the event's success will ensure that the Club World Cup matches can also open their doors to spectators.

Fans attending the tournament in February can expect to enjoy sitting in modern surroundings, with excellently located seats that bring them closer to the action on the pitch and cooling technology that ensures their comfort. The stadium will be easy to access via the Metro Green Line.

Education City Stadium

Officially opened on June 15th 2020, Qatar's 'Diamond in the Desert' is located in Al Rayyan's Education City. The stadium, which sits alongside nine Universities, a host of sporting venues, and some of Qatar's most awe-inspiring buildings, was designed with Islamic architecture in mind. Geometric style patterns, found across Islam, form the basis of the stadium's facade. Indeed, geometric panels lock together across the fascia to make diamond-like patterns. Along with the highly reflective materials used, it creates a shimmering, colour changing effect as the sun passes over the stadium. And, at night, thousands of tiny diodes illuminate the panels. Hence, the aptly given diamond in the desert reference. Like a diamond, the stadium has been designed to be durable, resilient and something to be treasured, now and for future generations. 

The 45,000 seat stadium, just 13km from Doha city centre, is accessible to fans by road and metro. Once in Education City visitors can jump on battery-powered trams from the Green Line Metro station or various car parking facilities to reach the stadium grounds.

Khalifa International Stadium

Khalifa International Stadium is the only stadium, of the eight World Cup 2022 stadiums, to have been redeveloped rather than newly constructed. Originally built in 1976, the stadium was extensively rebuilt to accommodate up to 45,000 visitors. Alongside its capacity expansion, the stadium facade has been remodelled to give it an ultra-modern and sleek look and improve accessibility and crowd management.

Fans visiting the stadium for the FIFA Club World Cup can access the venue by road or on the Doha Metro Gold Line. Once at the stadium, fans can admire the two giant, 120m tall arches that tower above the pitch, stay cool via the stadium's energy-efficient, intelligent cooling system, or check out one of Qatar's newest museums next door, the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum.

Win-Win

Whatever the outcome of the FIFA Club World Cup, though Qataris will be hoping for a good home team result, Qatar will benefit from hosting the event. As Nasser Al Khater, Chief Executive Officer, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC put it, “Hosting the second edition of the FIFA Club World Cup in a row will allow us to build on our operational experience and apply learnings both from 2019, as well as the tournaments attended by fans in Qatar throughout 2020.  It will help ensure we deliver an amazing experience for every fan when the Middle East and Arab world hosts its first FIFA World Cup in just under two years’ time."