MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The world’s governing football body, FIFA, announced a decision on Tuesday to move the FIFA Club World Cup 2020 from December to February next year due to the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a statement from FIFA’s press service.
"In light of the current global COVID-19 pandemic and its continuing impact on football, the Bureau of the FIFA Council has taken a number of decisions related to FIFA competitions, including the FIFA Club World Cup 2020…," the statement reads.
"The FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020, which was originally scheduled for December, has been subject to the disruptive effect of the pandemic on the confederations’ continental club championships that serve as a pathway for the event," FIFA’s press office announced..
"The introduction of strict return-to-play protocols has facilitated a successful resumption of continental club championships the last of which is now scheduled to conclude by the end of January 2021," according to the statement. "As a result, the FIFA Club World Cup 2020 will now be held from 1 to 11 February 2021, taking place in Qatar as per the original host appointment by the FIFA Council in June 2019."
The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football clubs competition and the tournament involves strongest clubs from each of the six confederations in addition to the best club from the host country of the FIFA World Cup tournament.
"FIFA, together with the host member associations, confederations and key stakeholders, will continue to monitor the situation concerning the pandemic globally, as well as any potential impact on preparations for and the future hosting of FIFA tournaments," the statement added.
Global coronavirus crisis
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 55,670,720 people have been infected worldwide and more than 1,337,930 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 38,815,360 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
Source: TASS
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