Future FIFA Club World Cup
The future FIFA Club World Cup in China is scheduled to be an upcoming edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament contested by clubs from the six continental confederations. The tournament will be the first under a new expanded format which features 24 teams, and will take place in China. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place from 17 June to 4 July 2021. However, FIFA has postponed the tournament indefinitely, as a result of the rescheduling of the UEFA European Championship and Copa América, which were  postponed from mid-2020 to mid-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chelsea are the defending champions. Background. As early as late 2016, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested an initial expansion of the Club World Cup to 32 teams beginning in 2019 and to be rescheduled to June/July to be more balanced and more attractive to broadcasters and sponsors. In late 2017, FIFA discussed proposals to expand the competition to 24 teams and have it be played every four years by 2021, replacing the FIFA Confederations Cup. On 15 March 2019, the new format and schedule of Club World Cup was  confirmed at the FIFA Council meeting in Miami, Florida, United States. Following the international window from 31 May to 8 June 2021 (for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification and the 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals), the tournament was scheduled to take place from 17 June to 4 July. The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (though later rescheduled due to climatic conditions) would then be allotted a window from 5 to 31 July 2021 in the FIFA International Match Calendar. However, the European Club Association was opposed to the decision, proposing that European clubs boycott the  new competition. Host appointment. For the pilot edition of the expanded Club World Cup format, FIFA announced on 3 June 2019 that they would analyse and proactively approach potential hosts. China were unanimously chosen as the hosts of the tournament by the FIFA Council at their meeting in Shanghai, China on 24 October 2019. COVID-19 pandemic and postponement. In March 2020, both the UEFA European Championship and Copa América, planned for June and July 2020, were postponed until June and July 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the new tournament dates coincided with the planned Club World Cup, FIFA  announced that the revamped Club World Cup would be rescheduled to later in 2021, in 2022 or in 2023. On 4 December 2020, FIFA announced that a Club World Cup would be held in late 2021 and hosted by Japan, later moved to United Arab Emirates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and would use the previous seven-team format. Following the meeting, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that the expanded Club World Cup in China was "still on the agenda, we just have not decided when it will take place". Slot allocation. The slot allocation was confirmed on 24 October  2019. The selection process for the tournament participants will be decided following a consultation between FIFA and the six confederations. Venues. On 28 December 2019, the Chinese Football Association announced eight cities to host the tournament. Format. The tournament will feature 24 teams, with a play-off between the OFC representative and the 3rd-best Asian team (other than China's champion club, which automatically qualifies as host country representative) to determine the final entrant. The teams will be split into eight groups of three teams each. The winners of the eight groups will advance to the quarter-finals, which  will use a knockout format to determine the champions.