&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "FIFA President Gianni Infantino to visit Seattle ahead of next year's Club WC football news")
Seattle's Lumen Field will host six games at next year's Club World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.
The Seattle Sounders, who qualified for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League, will host all three group stage matches at their home stadium.
Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp
The other three matches will also be played at Lumen Field, one of 12 stadiums that will host a total of 63 matches during the tournament. The event, which is now scheduled to be played every four years, will include an expanded field of 32 teams from FIFA's six football confederations.
“I arrived yesterday and visited Campo Lumen. Great field, very special field with a special soul inside, a special heart,” Infantino said on Tuesday.
“You can feel it when you’re in some stadiums, they don’t have to be the biggest or the most special. It’s very special.”
The tournament will start on June 15th and run until July 13th, with the final scheduled at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, also the venue for the 2026 World Cup final. So far, the Club World Cup has no major sponsors in the US and there are no media rights agreements.
Infantino was scheduled to meet Tuesday with local elected officials, representatives from the Seattle Sounders and National Women's Soccer League teams, the Seattle Reign and the leadership of the 2026 World Cup host committee in Seattle.
Seattle has also been selected as the host city for the 2026 Men's World Cup. Lumen Field will host six matches at that event.
“That would be, for me, part of the legacy that we also want to leave,” Infantino said.
“We are not just here to host tournaments and events, but we are here to grow the game so that it becomes number one not only across the world but also in this country.”
Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer said a temporary grass field would be used for the Club World Cup. Lumen Field, home of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, has artificial grass.
When the Club World Cup dates were announced, global players' union FIFPro criticized FIFA for not taking players' workload into account in the calendar.
On Monday, the European division of FIFPRO and the European League Group, made up of 33 countries, lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission on grounds of the competition, accusing FIFA of failing to properly consult it over its decision.
The European Commission in Brussels is the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union and can intervene in violations of competition law.
The Club World Cup will feature 12 teams from Europe. They are Atlético de Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid and Salzburg.
Other teams classified include Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and River Plate from South America; Leon, Monterrey, Pachuca and Sounders from North America; Al Ahly, Esperance, Mamelodi Sundowns and Wydad from Africa; Al-Hilal, Al Ain, Ulsan and Urawa of Asia; and Auckland City of Oceania.
Another American team will qualify for the tournament, but FIFA has not specified the selection process, leaving open the possibility that it will be Inter Miami, Lionel Messi's club.
(Only the title and image for this report may have been reworked by the Business Standards team; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a distributed feed.)
