About a week ago, it was reported that the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup could be in jeopardy. The reason? Japan, who've hosted the event on eight prior occasions, decided to withdraw as hosts. One of the country's main concerns was about the cost of staging the event, and a lack of revenue due to COVID-19 putting restrictions on how many people will be allowed into the stadium.
With the tournament set to kick off in December, there was some buzz that it just may be cancelled outright and postponed until sometime in 2022. However, there's been a new twist: according to reports, namely the Associated Press, Danny Jordaan, who's the president of the South African Football Association. As per that report, Jordaan has requested a formal meeting with FIFA's general secretary in Lagos, Nigeria, later this week.
South Africa has had their issues with COVID-19, but have apparently seen a huge decline in cases over the past few weeks and are looking to slowly allow fans back into the stadiums.
Chelsea, who won the Champions League earlier this year, will be UEFA's representative as the Blues look to add another trophy to their collection under new manager Thomas Tuchel.
The last Club World Cup was hosted in Qatar in February 2021 after a delay, and was won by Bayern as die Roten completed their sextuple following a 1-0 win over Tigres.
