Hosts of the 2022 World Cup get another nod from FIFA as the new club competition’s three matches will be held in Qatar in December.
Qatar will host three matches of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in December, including the highly anticipated finale featuring Real Madrid, the football’s governing body announced on Friday.
As the host of the 2022 World Cup, Qatar will stage the “Derby of the Americas” on December 11 and the “Challenger Cup” on December 14, leading up to the final match on December 18. This date coincides with Qatar’s National Day and marks the second anniversary of the World Cup final between France and Argentina.
Real Madrid, having won the UEFA Champions League for the 2023/24 season, will directly participate in the finale. The tournament will consist of five matches, featuring champion clubs from FIFA’s six confederations, mirroring the previous Club World Cup format.
The first match in Qatar will be the “Derby of the Americas,” where Pachuca of Mexico, the CONCACAF Champions Cup 2024 winners, will face the winners of the 2024 CONMEBOL Libertadores, on October 19.
The winner will then meet the champion of the African-Asian-Pacific Cup in the “Challenger Cup” on December 14.
The revamped tournament’s first two games, to be held outside Qatar in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, will decide the African-Asian-Pacific Cup winner.
The opening match, featuring AFC Champions League winners Al Ain and Oceania champions Auckland City of New Zealand, will take place in Al Ain, UAE, on September 22.
The winner will then face Egypt’s Al Ahly, the 2023/24 African Champions League winners, in Cairo on October 29 for the African-Asian-Pacific Cup. The ultimate winner will travel to Doha to compete in the “Challenger Cup”.
These three matches add to Qatar’s growing list of upcoming FIFA tournaments, including the Arab Cup and the U-17 World Cup.
Earlier this year, Qatar was awarded multi-year hosting rights for the expanded U-17 World Cup, which will take place annually from 2025 to 2029., the Gulf state and will host the 48-team tournament annually from 2025 to 2029.
Additionally, the Gulf state secured the rights to host the next three editions of the FIFA Arab Cup from 2025 to 2033, following its successful hosting of the tournament in 2021 as a lead-up to the World Cup.
