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FIFA names 12 stadiums set to stage historic FIFA Club World Cup 2025

Fola Badmus12 months ago12 months ago05 mins

FIFA has confirmed the 12 stadiums in the United States that will stage matches at the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025 when the 32 best clubs in the world play for the only official title of FIFA Club World Champions. The tournament kicks off on Sunday, 15 June 2025, with all roads leading to the MetLife Stadium in New York New Jersey on Sunday, 13 July 2025 where the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ final will be played, just over a year before the venue stages the FIFA World Cup 26™ final. This venue is joined by 11 more – Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), TQL Stadium (Cincinnati), Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), GEODIS Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium (Orlando), Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Lumen Field (Seattle), and Audi Field (Washington, D.C.). “Football is the most popular sport on the planet, and in 2025 a new era for club football will kick off when FIFA stages the greatest, most inclusive and merit-based global club competition right here in the United States,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who made the announcement at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York while simultaneously announcing FIFA’s new four-year partnership with Global Citizen to mobilise football fans globally to help end extreme poverty and provide access to education for millions of children. “The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will feature 12 fantastic stadiums where a new chapter in football’s global history will be written by great players from the 32 best clubs in the world,” Mr Infantino continued. “This new FIFA competition is the only true example in worldwide club football of real solidarity and inclusivity, allowing the best clubs from Africa, Asia, Central and North America and Oceania to play the powerhouses of Europe and South America in an incredible new World Cup which will impact enormously the growth of club football and talent globally. “This is about opportunity and hope for those who need it most, and also about prestige and true football for those who make our sport shine. My thanks go to all. We never discriminate; we include everyone. This is the true spirit of the brand new FIFA Club World Cup. “It has been an honour to make this significant tournament announcement before an enormous, energetic crowd at the Global Citizen Festival here in New York. The fans of the 32 competing clubs will create a similar buzz at the FIFA Club World Cup next year when we take it to the world,” the FIFA President concluded. With the draw set for December, just two of the 32 teams are yet to be confirmed: one from South America, the other representing the host country. Further information regarding the draw, which will see the 32 best clubs in the world divided into eight exciting groups of four, will be released in due course. The tournament match schedule will be published shortly after the draw.

Colombia 2024: Falconets crash out of World Cup

Fola Badmus1 year ago1 year ago03 mins

Reigning vice champions Japan edged Nigeria 2-1 in the Round of 16 at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals in Colombia on Friday morning, ending the promising journey of the Falconets. A goal in each half, first by Miyu Matsunaga and then by Maya Hijikata, meant that Olushola Shobowale’s composed finish one minute into time-added-on was too little too late in driving rain at the Estadio Metropolitano de Techo in Bogota. The tenacious Maya Hijikata came close in the 13th minute, almost capitalizing as goalkeeper Faith Omilana came out to punch the ball from a cross, but Comfort Folorunsho was on the line to rescue the situation. Japan’s famed electric pace and clever flicks and chips were countered by Nigeria’s fit-fighting approach and positional play. But in the 18thminute, Japan came close again when Uno Shiragaki and Manaka Matsukubo missed getting a touch on the ball as Rio Sasaki carved open Nigeria’s defence from a free kick on the right. The East Asians would go in front in the 33rdminute, as Matsunaga headed home a cross by Rihona Ujihara. Four minutes before the break, Nigeria could have levelled when Rofiat Imuran’s in-swinger from the left rattled goalkeeper Akana Okuma, but Maya Hijikata cleared the ball off the line. Hijikata made it two for Japan in the 66th minute when she drove the ball into the net after a cross from the right by Chinari Sasai. Omilana punched over fierce shots by Matsunaga and Suzu Amano in the 77th and 86th minute respectively, but Nigeria made it a tense finish when Shobowale coolly slotted in a cross from the left by substitute Goodness Osigwe. Japan will face Spain in the quarter-finals, in a re-match of the final match of the last edition in Costa Rica two years ago.

Colombia 2024: Germany thrashes Falconets in Bogota

Fola Badmus1 year ago1 year ago03 mins

Two goals in the final half-hour steered three-time champions Germany to a 3-1 victory over Nigeria in their FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Group D clash at the Estadio Metropolitano de Techo in Bogota on Wednesday night. Nigeria could have gone ahead in the second minute after they snatched the ball from an onslaught by the Germans, but Chiamaka Okwuchukwu failed to beat goalkeeper Rebecca Adamczyk, after shunning the option of passing to team- mates running on goal. After Germany came close in the 10th minute, Rofiat Imuran raced down the left but her cross failed to find Okwuchukwu. Schitler then put the Germans in front in the 17th minute, when she nodded home an inch-perfect cross from the right with goalkeeper Shukura Bakare in no man’s land. There were opportunities at both ends as the game wore on, but Nigeria wasted another great chance to pull level in added time of the first half, when Rofiat Imuran again raced down the left, only to see goalkeeper Adamczyk stop her weak effort with a right-handed smack. Five minutes into the second half, Nigeria were level when Jalla Veit and Adamczyk blundered at the rear to allow Okwuchukwu to race towards an open goal and notch her first strike of the tournament. Germany restored their lead in the 61st minute, with Zoebell poking the ball past Bakare from a teasing cross, in-between two Falconets’ defenders. Okwuchukwu thought she had secured the leveller two minutes later, when she lashed the ball past Adamczyk after cutting in from the right, only to be ruled off-side. The Germans would make it 3-1 in added time, through Ernst’s flying header off a cross from the right that left Bakare rooted to the spot. In the event, the Germans secured their slot in the Round of 16, having earlier defeated Venezuela 5-2 on Matchday 1. Next for the Falconets is a clash with Venezuela in Cali on Saturday evening.