Fifa officials 'satisfied' with Club World Cup UAE venue

Top Stories

Fifa officials satisfied with Club World Cup UAE venue
Fifa officials will be in Al Ain on Thursday to inspect the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium - another venue for the Club World Cup UAE.

Abu Dhabi - This is Fifa's third round of inspections ahead of the Club World Cup UAE to be held in December

By Ashwani Kumar

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Wed 29 Mar 2017, 10:49 PM

Last updated: Thu 30 Mar 2017, 12:53 AM

Fifa officials inspecting the host venues and training sites of the Club World Cup UAE 2017 were 'satisfied' with the preparations.
Fifa Tournaments group leader Rhiannon Martin said on Wednesday the preparations at the Zayed Sports City Stadium, which was the main venue, were 'positive' so far.
"The renovation process is on and we are coordinating with the organising committee of the Club World Cup UAE here. There's work left on the pitches. The fine tuning process is still going on. The pitch experts can take care of it but overall we are satisfied," she told Khaleej Times after inspecting the Zayed Sports City venue.
This is Fifa's third round of inspections ahead of the Club World Cup UAE to be held in December.
The eight-member Fifa team will be in Al Ain on Thursday to inspect the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium - another venue. She said Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium will not be used for any of the eight matches.
Matches were played at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium and Zayed Sports City when the competition was held in the UAE in 2009 and 2010. "Zayed Sports City Stadium will be the main venue. There will be more stadiums used as training sites for referees, who are an important aspect of the game," she said.
On the next steps to be followed, she said: "There will be an official emblem launch next month to be followed by a dedicated Club World Cup links being activated in fifa.com /fifa.com> . Then there will be launch of ticket sales and further promotions."
The schedule of the matches will be released next month.
The Club World Cup will see participation from the champion clubs from each of the six continental confederations and the national league champion from the host country. As per the current run of form, Al Jazira with six point lead over Al Ahli are favourites to win the Arabian Gulf League and enter the Club World Cup draw.
Rhiannon is responsible for conducting the Club World Cup in a smooth manner by coordination with different departments - stadiums, security, TV, media among others. The team plans to return for another visit in October, at the same time as the official draw with teams, for a final inspection.
The Club World Cup UAE will take place from December 6 to 16. Abu Dhabi will again host the 2018 Club World Cup.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com


More news from