FIFA are looking at hosting a Club World Cup in the summer of 2025 in North America, Sports Agenda has learned.
The potentially lucrative tournament would see 24 clubs split into eight groups of three. The winners of each pool would go through to the quarter-finals.
The plan is for eight clubs to qualify via the Champions League, along with six clubs from the Copa America — for clubs in South America.
FIFA head Gianni Infantino, who is proposing a new Club World Cup in North America in 2025
Three would come from Concacaf’s Champions League (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), three from the AFC Champions League (Asia) and three from the CAF Champions League (Africa).
One more would qualify via the OFC Champions League (Oceania).
Insiders have disclosed that the tournament would be viewed as a comprehensive test event for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted in Canada, the US and Mexico.
It would also meet the demand of some of the world’s top clubs to play ‘real games’ in North America in front of a vast audience which is currently served only by largely meaningless friendlies.
The new format was intended to start this summer in China, but the pandemic saw plans postponed in favour of an event with the usual seven teams in Japan late in the year, much to the relief of the European Club Association amid a congested calendar.
THE PICTURE FOR JENAS LOOKS OUT OF FOCUS
Rumours that Jermaine Jenas will replace Dan Walker as the host of Football Focus are understood to be wide of the mark.
The One Show host and former Newcastle man has been installed as favourite but BBC bosses see his future on Match of the Day, with the MOTDx show — which Jenas presents — attracting high viewing figures.
Jermaine Jenas is said to be shortlisted as a future host of BBC’s Match of the Day show
GRAEME SOUNESS JOINS ITV FOR EURO 2020
A coup for ITV Sport, which has landed Graeme Souness for the European Championship. The straight-talking Scot, a mainstay of Sky’s coverage, will join the broadcaster for the whole tournament.
ITV and the BBC have the final, while ITV will show England’s final two group matches — including their clash with Scotland — and have first pick of the semi-finals.
Graeme Souness will be part of ITV Sport’s coverage of the European Championships
DAZN SNAPS UP SERIE A… THEN CRASHES
Just last month, streaming service DAZN announced a £2.17billion deal for Serie A rights for 2021-24, displacing Sky. The agreement will see their coverage increase to all 10 matches each week. Not great timing then for the DAZN app to go down during the Inter Milan v Cagliari and Verona v Lazio matches on Sunday.
HOME TRUTH OVER F1 CHIEF’S PLANS
He is known as one of the finest designers in Formula One but the planning skills of Red Bull’s chief techy Adrian Newey do not appear to have translated to his home. The 62-year-old has found himself in bother with his local council after he erected 14 security cameras and lights at his £4.5million Ascot pad without permission. Newey had to apply for retrospective consent, as the Grade-II listed house is a heritage asset.
A decision is expected later this month.
Adrian Newey has problems with his local council over installing security cameras at his home
LEWIS ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE?
Despite her brutal firing as secretary general at the International Skiing Federation, Briton Sarah Lewis has put herself forward as a candidate to become president of the same body at the June elections. Lewis’s campaign got off to an icy start when she was unable to get the nomination from the GB or Swiss skiing federations (she holds dual citizenship). But an undeterred Lewis has persuaded Belgium to nominate her.
HUNDRED TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Sky Sports are to launch a channel dedicated to the Hundred. The broadcaster have also enlisted high-profile names including Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Karthik for the inaugural tournament.
Sky Sports: The Hundred will take over from the existing Sky Sports Cricket channel for the competition, which starts in 100 days.
Nasser Hussain, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Rob Key, Ian Ward, David Lloyd, Nick Knight, Mike Atherton and Mark Butcher will also be in the hefty commentary team.
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE?
It is not every day scouts from top Russian clubs check on players from League One, but that was the case at the clash between Peterborough and Sunderland earlier this month. Representatives from Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow were there to look at hot-shots Jonson Clarke-Harris and Charlie Wyke.
Peterborough’s Clarke-Harris and Sunderland’s Wyke are being watched by a number of clubs. But interest from Russia will be welcome amid fears across the cash-strapped EFL that Premier League clubs will tighten their belts this summer.
SKY BET’S GRAND NATIONAL BLUNDER
Thousands of punters were left frustrated when the Sky Bet app crashed before the Grand National. For around 10 minutes, customers were unable to place a bet and were left in a frantic scramble when the issue was resolved shortly before the race began.
GLASS CEILING IN TACT?
Additions to the list of honorary life members at the MCC include long-serving membership office manager Michael Capitelli (around 45 years) and maintenance manager Jon Hawke (33 years). However, there is no room for head of cricket John Stephenson’s former PA Debbie Moore, who worked there for more than 40 years.
One rule for men, another for women? Some feel that Moore taking redundancy, rather than early retirement, is behind it. Either way, not a good look for the MCC.
DECHAMBEAU S.O.S
Viewers of Sky’s Masters coverage were baffled on Thursday when no mention was made of Bryson DeChambeau for almost an hour. Instead, they focused on ‘featured groups’, including Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood. Augusta’s rules, which limit the amount of live golf on TV, have been blamed.
Bryson DeChambeau went unmentioned for almost an hour on Sky Sports’ Masters coverage
