Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar
Featured image credit: llus/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
FIFA has set out plans for its new Intercontinental Cup, with Qatar to host the finale of the inaugural edition later this year.
The annual tournament will essentially replace the current Club World Cup, which is being expanded and relaunched by world football’s governing body next summer in the United States.
The 2024 Intercontinental Cup 2024, which will comprise five matches, kicked off yesterday (Sunday) and is due to conclude on December 18. The first two matches will take place in the countries of the home teams, with the remaining games played in Qatar.
In Match 1, the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup Play-Off, Al Ain, winners of the 2023-24 AFC Champions League, hosted Auckland City, winners of the 2024 OFC Champions League. The home side emerged 6-2 victors at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium yesterday.
Silverware will be at stake as of Match 2, when Al Ain advances to meet 2023-24 CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly in Cairo, Egypt, on October 29 to compete for the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup.
The action then moves to Qatar as Match 3 – officially named the FIFA Derby of the Americas – takes place on December 11. The game will feature 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners Pachuca and the eventual 2024 CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores champions, who will be confirmed on November 30.
On December 14, the winners of matches two and three will meet to compete for the FIFA Challenger Cup and a place in the final.
On December 18, Qatar’s National Day and the two-year anniversary of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final at Lusail Stadium, the FIFA Challenger Cup champions will face Real Madrid, winners of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
In June 2023, FIFA announced that the United States will host the first edition of its new and expanded 32-team Club World Cup, which is due to take place in 2025.
FIFA said the decision was reached based on the United States’ position as a “proven leader” in staging global events and because it would allow the organisation to “maximise synergies” with the delivery of the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico
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