Jeddah has been confirmed as the host city for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup

Madrid celebrate winning the Club World Cup in 2022. (FIFA Image)

FOOTBALL Jeddah has been confirmed as the host city for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup

Peter Tabu • 13:31 - 26.06.2023

The revelation was made via FIFA's website on Monday afternoon, in which it was announced that the decision was made following a FIFA delegation visit to Jeddah to assess the ongoing preparations for the tournament earlier in June.

World football governing body FIFA has confirmed the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup.

The revelation was made via FIFA's website on Monday afternoon, in which it was announced that the decision was made following a FIFA delegation visit to Jeddah to assess the ongoing preparations for the tournament earlier in June.

Saudi Arabian Football Association president Yasser Al Misehal welcomed the development, adding that Jeddah is prepared to host the world with world-class state-of-the-art facilities.

"We are delighted that Jeddah, with its state-of-the-art facilities and reputation for hosting major international sports events, has been selected as the host city for the FIFA Club World Cup," he told the FIFA website.

"Sport is a key driver of Saudi Arabia's ongoing transformation under Vision 2030, which has established the Kingdom as one of the fastest growing and most exciting countries in world sport."

This will be the first time Saudi Arabia will host the competition with the King Abdullah Sports City, slated for 12th to 22nd December 2023.

The other is the Prince Abdallah Al Faisal stadiums, which were inspected by the FIFA delegation being earmarked as the venues for the competition.

The Saudi Arabian Football Association's commitment to growing the game at every level in Saudi across men's and women's football has been highlighted by recent achievements.

This included qualifying for six FIFA World Cup tournaments like Winning the U-23 Asian Cup (men).

The oil-rich nation has also successfully established a women's national team that is now FIFA-ranked and launched a U-17 Women's national team that is now FIFA-ranked.

At the grassroots level, SAFF has opened 28 regional training centres to nurture young Saudi talent and increased registered coaches from 750 in 2018 to more than 5,500 today, of which 1,000 are women.

The FIFA Club World Cup is a tournament played betwen the winners of the six continetal confederations as well as the host nation's league champions.

Seven teams compete for the title, the 2023 edition will be the 20th edition with UEFA Champions League winners Manchester City, Urawa Red Diamonds, the Asian Federartion champions, Al Ahly (CAF Champions League winners), Leone FC (CONCACAF winners), Auckland City (Oceania winners) and Al-Ittihad (hosts) are the qualified clubs so far.

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