PANAJI: France superstar Kylian Mbappe will return to Qatar, this time with his club Real Madrid, exactly two years after losing the 2022 FIFA World Cup final against Argentina.
Mbappe secured the Golden Boot with his hat-trick in the final against Argentina and came close to winning a second World Cup. He scored a total of eight goals and will now have a chance to pick up a trophy in Qatar, by winning the relaunched FIFA Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid.
The European champions have been seeded directly into the final, which will be played on December 18, Qatar's National Day and the two-year anniversary of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The FIFA Intercontinental Cup, FIFA's annual club tournament, will have a new format with stand-alone intercontinental competitions featuring the champions of the six confederations.
The Intercontinental Cup 2024, which will comprise five matches, will kick off on September 22 and conclude on December 18, 2024. "The first two matches will take place in the countries of the home teams and the remaining games will be played in Qatar," FIFA said in a statement.
For 2024 and beyond, for the first time, more than one team per edition will have the chance to play in a FIFA competition on home soil, with the higher ranked of the two clubs involved in each of the first two matches staging the encounter.
"The opportunity to host another prestigious football tournament is testament to Qatar's ability of delivering world-class sporting events," Minister for Youth and Sports, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani said in a statement "Two years after the greatest FIFA World Cup in history, we are proud to host the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024. We look forward to welcoming some of the greatest players in the world for another great event to showcase the legacy of 2022."
Qatar hosted the World Cup in 2022 and the Asian Cup earlier this year with the Gulf giants winning the tournament for the second time in a row.
Asian Champions League winners Al Ain will first host Oceanic Champions League winners Auckland City on September 22 in the African-Asian-Pacific Cup playoff, with the winners set to face African Champions League winners Al Ahly in Cairo on October 29.
The action then switches to Doha, Qatar, where the 2024 South American Libertadores winners will play Mexican side Pachuca, the winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, on December 11 - a match described by FIFA as the "Derby of the Americas".
The winners of these two matches play each other in the Challenger Cup three days later to earn a spot in the Intercontinental Cup Final against Real Madrid on December 18.
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