Kamran Jebreili/Associated Press
FIFA plans to grant China the rights to host the inaugural version of its expanded Club World Cup, a 24-team tournament scheduled for 2021 that will feature some of the world’s biggest club teams and provide a significant cash infusion for world soccer’s governing body.
The decision to award the hosting rights to China will be announced on Friday in Shanghai after it is confirmed in a vote of FIFA’s governing council at its quarterly meeting, according to several soccer officials with knowledge of the council’s intentions. European soccer officials, who had strongly opposed an expanded tournament for clubs when the plans were raised, now appear set to go along, and to provide a third of the teams in the expanded tournament.