عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

FIFA Sets Date for First Women's Club World Cup

FILED - 06 January 2020, Egypt, Giza: The shadows of spectators can be seen on a FIFA banner. Photo: Omar Zoheiry/dpa
FILED - 06 January 2020, Egypt, Giza: The shadows of spectators can be seen on a FIFA banner. Photo: Omar Zoheiry/dpa
TT
TT

FIFA Sets Date for First Women's Club World Cup

FILED - 06 January 2020, Egypt, Giza: The shadows of spectators can be seen on a FIFA banner. Photo: Omar Zoheiry/dpa
FILED - 06 January 2020, Egypt, Giza: The shadows of spectators can be seen on a FIFA banner. Photo: Omar Zoheiry/dpa

FIFA finally set a date Wednesday to play the first Women’s Club World Cup tournament in January and February 2026.
The first edition should involve 16 teams though FIFA’s ruling council did not specify how they would qualify or where they could play.
Barcelona and Lyon are the top-ranked European teams and have combined to win 10 Champions League titles since 2011. They will meet in the next final on May 25 in Bilbao, Spain, The Associated Press reported.
A 32-team men’s Club World Cup will debut in June-July next year in the United States with teams qualifying by winning or getting consistently good results in four years of continental championships through 2024. The inaugural men's edition will have 12 European teams and six from South America.
FIFA has made launching a global club tournament a key part of its strategy to develop women’s soccer since the soccer body’s current president Gianni Infantino was elected in 2016.
The tournament should be held every four years, like the men’s edition. In other years, an “additional FIFA women’s club competition” was proposed to be organized, again like the men.
FIFA plans to launch an annual “Intercontinental Cup” in December featuring just the champions of the six men’s continental competitions, such as the Champions League in Europe.

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
TT
TT

Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony: Saudi Team Highlights Cultural Heritage

Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)
Saudi athletes wave their country’s flag during the opening parade. (Saudi Olympic Committee)

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and his deputy, Prince Fahd bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz, attended the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris.

Held outside the traditional stadiums for the first time in history, the ceremony featured a parade of the 206 participating countries on 100 boats traveling approximately 6 kilometers along the Seine River.

The Saudi show jumping team player, Ramzy Al-Duhami, and his colleague, the Saudi Taekwondo champion Dunya Aboutaleb, raised the Saudi flag at the opening of the world’s largest sporting event.

Al-Duhami expressed his pride in raising the Kingdom’s flag alongside his teammate, noting that it was a dream for any Saudi citizen. He wished success for the Saudi athletes in representing Saudi sports with distinction.

Aboutaleb, in turn, said he was honored to carry the Kingdom’s flag at the Olympic Games, stating: “I aspire to perform at a level that reflects the support and attention given to sports in the Kingdom.”

The Saudi athletes’ uniform was admired by the international media and the audience, who applauded the players the moment their boat appeared on the Seine River.

The designs for the opening ceremony were chosen through a national competition organized by the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, with the participation of designers from across the Kingdom.

Out of 128 competing designers, the chosen uniform by Saudi designer Alia Al-Salmi featured traditional men’s thobes and bishts and brightly patterned thobe al-nashal for women, symbolizing the athletes’ pride in their homeland and cultural roots.

Mashael Al-Ayed, 17, will be the first Saudi athlete to compete, taking to the pool for the 200 meters freestyle swimming event on July 28. Al-Ayed is the first female swimmer to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics.