Europe 1 with AFP 7 p.m., February 14, 2023

Saudi Arabia, very active in sports diplomacy in recent years, has obtained the organization of the next Club World Cup, scheduled for December, Fifa announced on Tuesday, a few days after the coronation of Real Madrid on Saturday during the edition organized in Morocco.

After Morocco, it is Saudi Arabia.

Fifa has decided to award the organization of the 2023 Club World Cup to the Middle Eastern country.

"The FIFA Council has unanimously designated the Football Federation of Saudi Arabia as the host of the tournament from December 12 to 22, 2023," the Zurich-based body wrote in a statement.

Like Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the world's leading exporter of crude oil, has multiplied major sporting events in recent years to diversify its economy and improve its image, against a backdrop of charges of repression in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

>> READ ALSO

- Champions League: Kylian Mbappé the savior of a PSG in great danger against Bayern?

Towards a candidacy for the 2023 World Cup?

The organization of the Club World Cup responds to this strategy, while the Saudi authorities are considering a bid to organize the 2030 World Cup, the premier football event, perhaps in association with Greece and Egypt.

Launched in 2000, then definitively installed in the landscape in 2005 to replace the defunct Intercontinental Cup, the World Club brings together the best team of each of the six confederations of Fifa, including the supporters of the Champions League (Europe) and the Copa Libertadores (South America), as well as a team from the host country, i.e. seven teams.

>> READ ALSO

- Stade de France incidents: an independent report pinpoints UEFA and the authorities

A choice in favor of Ronaldo?

This format opens the door to a possible participation of the Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (38), now head of the gondola of the Saudi club of Al-Nassr.

Fifa plans to expand the format of the Club World Cup in the future, with a quadrennial 32-team tournament whose first edition is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2025.

In this regard, the FIFA Council has defined the distribution of qualifying places by continent, with four clubs qualified for Asia, four for Africa, four for Central and North America, six for North America South, one for Oceania, twelve for Europe and one for the host country.