SHANGHAI, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has been granted the right to host the inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup in 2021, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced here on Thursday.
The revamped Club World Cup will be held every four years featuring 24 teams and replaces the seven-team annual event, said Infantino at the conclusion of a FIFA council meeting.
"This is a historic decision for football because the FIFA council decided unanimously to appoint China as the host for the new FIFA World Cup for clubs," he said.
"The new FIFA World Cup for clubs will be a competition which every person who loves football looks forward to. It is the first real and true world cup for the best teams and clubs in the world," said the president of the world football governing body.
The tournament will be played between June and July 2021 and the finalist of venues will be decided by FIFA and the Chinese FA, according to a statement issued by FIFA.
The participation model to determine the clubs that qualify from each confederation will be finalized in a consultation process between FIFA and the six continental confederations, said the statement.
The quadrennial event will also replace the Confederations Cup, an eight-team national tournament which served as a tuneup for World Cup hosts.
The FIFA Council meeting also decided that the selection of the 2030 World Cup host would take place at the 74th FIFA Congress in 2024, with the bidding process to start at the second quarter of 2022, said Infantino.
This FIFA Council meeting also approved FIFA to invest one billion US dollars in women's football in the next four years.
"This amount will be taken from FIFA's reserves as an addition to the 500 million US dollars already approved by the FIFA Congress to be invested in women's football as per the budget of the current four-year cycle," said the statement.
