Shifting into high gear!

By Saoud Moussa Baccus

Designed for saudi-football.soccer.

 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) won the bid to host the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in 2023.

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's football competition organised by FIFA. The winners of the AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), CONCACAF Champions League (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe) plus the host nation meet in the finals in a straight knock-out format.

This year’s FIFA Club World Cup was held in Morocco. Real Madrid was crowned champions for the fifth time after they defeated KSA’s Al-Hilal on a score of 5-3.

In addition to the FIFA Club World Cup, Saudi Arabia will also host the AFC Asia Cup 2027, another major tournament involving 24 national teams from Asia. Saudi Arabia has won the cup three times but has never hosted the tournament before.

Earlier in the year, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation hosted the Women’s International Friendly Tournament Cup, a four-team international women’s tournament which saw the participation of Pakistan, Comoros, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi women’s team won their first-ever tournament.

All this is telling me that KSA is on a dry run for the biggest of them all, the FIFA World Cup. Experience as a major tournament organiser is crucial when bidding for the FIFA World Cup. The country is strengthening weaknesses before launching its bid and thereby pre-empting any criticism from its detractors, of which there will be many.

And yes, Riyadh is active in the PR department as well. The Saudi Arabia Tourism Authority (Visit Saudi) will be a sponsor of the 2023 Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand. It is all part of the big plan.