JFA will not host FIFA Club World Cup due to rising Covid cases in Japan


JFA will not host FIFA Club World Cup due to rising Covid cases in Japan

Japan Football Association has come to the decision to not host the FIFA Club World Cup 2021 due to the rise in the number of Covid cases in the country. After the Tokyo Olympics 2020 which was hosted this year in Japan, there has been a significant rise in the number of Covid cases.

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Rise in the number of Covid cases in Japan

There has been a lot of internal political issues in Japan after the Government failed to tackle the pandemic in an efficient way. Yoshihide Suga, who assumed the office of Prime Minister in Japan on 16th September 2020, has resigned after not even 12 months of assuming his duites.

Japan has been hit with the fifth wave of Covid in the mean time and many restrictions are put in places at this moment. Yoshihide Suga was criticised for his way of handling the pandemic situation, one of the reasons for which Yoshihide Suga stepped down from the PM’s office.

JFA has been in talks with FIFA if the Club World Cup can be pushed off to the next year or else they would have to step down as the host. This would have been the very first time that Japan would have hosted the FIFA Club World Cup. Now that Japan remains uncertain to host, UAE will be given the opportunity to be the host for the third consecutive time.

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FIFA Club World Cup consists of seven teams competing for the title along with the host nation’s national champions. The seven teams include, AFC Champions League (Asia), CAF Champions League (Africa), CONCACAF Champions League (North America), Copa Libertadores (South America), OFC Champions League (Oceania) and UEFA Champions League (Europe).

‘Unless we forge a path to where events can be staged in coexistence with the virus, soccer as well as other sports won’t be able to maintain themselves,’ a senior JFA official said, as quoted by Kyodo News.

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