Saudi Arabia 'honoured and extremely excited' to host 2023 Fifa Club World Cup

Saudi Arabia hosting the 2023 Fifa Club World Cup will represent “another important step forward on our journey of transformation in football and as a country”, according to the country’s minister of sports.

Fifa, football’s world governing body, announced on Tuesday night that the kingdom will for the first time stage the seven-team tournament, which is set to take place from December 12-22.

Saudi Arabia represents the sixth tournament host since the competition’s inception in 2000, and becomes the second Gulf country to hold the event following the UAE. The Club World Cup has been staged five times in the Emirates - most recently last year.

The decision, made at the Fifa Council meeting on Tuesday, came three days after the 2022 Club World Cup final, where Real Madrid defeated Al Hilal 5-3. The Riyadh side, the reigning Asian champions, became the first Saudi team to reach the showpiece match.

In a statement following Tuesday's news, Saudi Arabia’s sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, said: “We are honoured and extremely excited to be given the opportunity to welcome the world’s leading football clubs and their fans to Saudi Arabia.

“Many fans will have recently witnessed our ability as a nation to compete at the highest possible level on the pitch. Now we have the chance to prove we are also world-class hosts off it. We look forward to showcasing our genuine love of the game and our desire to be a force for good.”

Prince Abdulaziz continued: “Today is another important step forward on our journey of transformation in football and as a country, and I trust all involved will see for themselves the undeniable progress being made at many different levels.

الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم FIFA:السعودية تستضيف كأس