Concacaf president confirms Club World Cup won’t be in USA

Still nothing official, but he at least implies the tournament will happen.

While there’s still been no official announcement about where or when the next Club World Cup will take place, Concacaf President Victor Montagliani did offer some assurances it will happen and that the Seattle Sounders will participate during an interview with Fox Sports.

“If Seattle gets to the final and plays Real Madrid, that would be huge for our region,” Montagliani said.

Unfortunately, Montagliani also threw cold water on reports that the tournament could be held in the United States, but did suggest that it could be played here in the future.

The latest reports suggest that the favorite to play host is Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates. That’s who hosted the most recent tournament as well as the 2009, 2010, 2017 and 2018 editions. The last five Club World Cups have all been played in the Middle East and the tradition since 2009 has been to play two consecutive tournaments at the same location before moving.

So far, five teams have qualified for the tournament. Joining the Sounders (Concacaf) and Real Madrid (UEFA) are Brazil’s Flamengo (CONMEBOL), Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca (CAF) and New Zealand’s Auckland City (Oceania). The Asian Federation still has not determined which team they’ll send and their champions league winner won’t be determined until after the expected dates of this tournament (Feb. 1-12). The final participant will presumably be from the host country.