UAE Football Association (UAE FA) president Yousuf Alserkal believes that hosting FIFA events is a “win-win situation” for both the Emirates and the game’s governing body.
FIFA announced on Friday that the UAE had registered their interest in staging the 2017 and 2018 Club World Cups as well as the 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup.
The Emirates is no stranger to putting on such events having played host to the Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010 as well as organising the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship and last year’s U-17 World Cup.
Alserkal, who confirmed that Abu Dhabi would once again be the city to stage the Club World Cup if the bid is successful, believes the country has proven itself to be a more than able host.
Asked what made the Emirates an ideal candidate, he told Sport360°: “Everything that you can think of; the hospitality, facilities, organisation, everything.
“It is like a win-win situation for us and for FIFA.”
The UAE’s ability to host world class football events was showcased last winter as an estimated 318,108 attended the U-17 World Cup over three weeks in October and November.
“It is important to build on that success and we count on the success of organising the youth World Cup, the U-17 World Cup and the Club World Cup to support our bid,” Alserkal added.
Interested nations have until August 25 to submit bidding documents with a decision expected from FIFA’s executive committee in September.
“With respect to the decision, yes we do have good confidence but we are still counting on the support of the FIFA executive committee,” Alserkal said.
The UAE FA president also believes that winning the right to host FIFA events would strengthen the country’s bid to host the 2019 Asian Cup.
The Emirates are up against Iran, Saudi Arabia and Thailand in the race to host the regional tournament with a delegation from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) visiting potential stadia in the Emirates at the beginning of March.
“We haven’t had any feedback yet but we do have confidence that our bid and file is all complete,” Alserkal said. “Of course if FIFA allows us to host the Club World Cup that would also give support to our bid for the 2019 Asian Cup.”
The Club World Cup has been held twice previously in Abu Dhabi, proving a success on both occasions as Barcelona and then Internazionale went home with the title. The UAE were represented at each event by their league champions, with Al Ahli contesting the tournament in 2009 and Al Wahda taking up their place in the 2010 tournament.
“We have done it before and we think it was worth hosting it for the publicity and the good of the game internally,” Alserkal said. “We pay a lot of interest to football and this is one of FIFA’s big events so we have a great interest in hosting it.”
