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FIFA awards annual Junior World Cup to Qatar
March 14, 2024, 11:12 p.m
Qatar surprisingly hosted the men’s World Cup a year and a half ago. FIFA is now awarding another tournament to the desert state. In the future, the U17 teams will play for the World Cup title there every year, while their female counterparts will travel to another country.
The U17 World Cup will be held annually in Qatar until 2029. The Council of the World Football Association FIFA decided this in a virtual meeting. In addition, the U17 World Cup will be held in Morocco for the next five years starting in 2025.
The two tournaments had previously been held every two years. Last year, FIFA announced that the U17 World Cup would be played annually from 2025 and increased from 24 to 48 teams. The tournament for the female U17 teams will in future take place with 24 nations. The focus when choosing the hosts was “on the use of the existing football infrastructure in the interest of tournament efficiency and sustainability,” FIFA announced after the meeting. As a German representative, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf is a member of the world association’s council.
Infantino praises “sound financial management”
The German U17 won the World Cup title in Indonesia last year. Qatar was the host of the 2022 Men’s World Cup and had previously come under massive criticism for, among other things, human rights violations and sportswashing.
But the Councel meeting wasn’t just about the U17 World Cup. FIFA can apparently expect even more money by 2026 than the previously estimated eleven billion US dollars. Thanks to “solid financial management”, the world football association is “well on the way” to “exceed” the budget target for the cycle from 2023 to the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
With the additional income, FIFA will offer its 211 member associations “more tailored services” to “support them in the implementation of their development and education projects and take football to the next level,” said the Swiss. According to its own information, the world association is planning “record investments” of around 2.25 billion US dollars (approx. 2 billion euros) in “football development”.