United Arab Emirates land World Club Cup 2009 and 2010

[mack]

United Arab Emirates land World Club Cup 2009 and 2010
Sydney - The football World Club Cup will leave Japan after 28 years to be hosted in the United Arab Emirates in 2009 and 2010, the ruling body FIFA announced on Tuesday.

The FIFA executive committee awarded the event to the UAE :burka: which beat rivals Japan and Australia as the tournament was open for bids for the first time.

Japan loses the event - formerly known as the Intercontinental Cup - it had hosted since 1981, with only the 2000 edition played in Brazil.

The final edition in Japan will be played in December as FIFA wanted another host for the event.

Australia was not picked because according to FIFA the distance to the country for the participating teams would not allow enough time to host the tournament within a week.

FIFA said its decision would not affect Australia's bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The tournament is contested by six champion clubs from each FIFA confederation and a team from the host country. :keepyup: AC Milan won last year with Argentina's Boca Juniors second and Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan third.

[Dunghie]

Joke of a fooking tournament now anyhow. They can have it!

Sydney FC vs Man U. Should be a thriller ...:MyEmoticons-com__bu

Who was it last year? Some team from Auckland made the cut. :wtf:

[mack]

Joke of a fooking tournament now anyhow. They can have it!



When I read it I thought maybe the tournament was a big deal (I know nothing about football..:keepyup:) so it's good to hear from you that it's a minor event, seeing as how the cheerleaders don't look so good over there... :burka: _ :burka: _ :burka: _ :burka:

[old crust]

Its difficult to decide which is the biggest joke, the World Club Final or FIFA.

[Dunghie]

Mack, it used to be the champions of Europe vs the champions of South America and there were some great clashes over the years. But maybe to get a Japanese club team into the picture they introduced this silly regional champ nonsense so a local Japanese team like Urawa Reds gets to play AC Milan, as an example.

Trouble was the other regional teams like Auckland, Sydney FC, Egypt side, MLS squad etc, are hardly world class, and playing in Japan had ZERO following.

They should have left it as the old format.

Some good memories over the years though, watching the likes of Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Man U, Liverpool.

They used to give tickets away, believe it or not, then after the J.League boom, scalpers wanted $500!!!