Yes to the Summer Olympics but no to the World Cup for Football Clubs.
If Tokyo, the Japanese capital, hosted the 32nd Summer Olympics a month and a half ago, as well as the Paralympics, more recently, the Japanese football federation has given up hosting the Club World Cup in next December which opposes each year the winning clubs of the main continental competitions and representatives of the host country.
The Chelsea of Thomas Tuchel, winner of the Champions League last May against Manchester City (1-0) is the big favorite of the event.
"The risk of an increase in the number of infections, and the difficulty in making a profit due to a probable limitation in the number of spectators influenced this decision", writes the Kyodo news agency, which quotes sources. anonymous.
Also according to Kyodo, the Japanese federation is in discussions with Fifa, which could postpone the competition to early 2022.
"The details on the next edition of the FIFA Club World Cup will be specified when the time comes," simply commented a spokesperson for the international federation to AFP.
Japan has already hosted this competition in 2016, and the Japanese federation wanted to host the 2021 edition, in particular to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
The tournament usually takes place in December, but the 2020 edition, organized in Qatar and won by Bayern Munich, who beat the Tigres of André-Pierre Gignac in the final (1-0) thanks to a goal from Benjamin Pavard , had been postponed to February 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Japan has suffered since the beginning of the summer a fifth wave of coronavirus, the most violent to date in the country, which has pushed the government to reinstate health restriction measures in mid-July, extended in August to the majority from the country. They should be once again extended until the end of September, according to local media.
