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The Bureau of the Council has unanimously taken a number of key decisions in relation to the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™, FIFA’s annual club tournament, which will have an exciting new format with standalone intercontinental competitions featuring the champions of the six Confederations.

‘INSIDEFIFA’ stated that the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024™, which will comprise five matches, kicked off on September 22^nd and will conclude on December 18^th, 2024. The first two matches will take place in the countries of the home teams and the remaining games will be played in Qatar.

The Bureau of the Council in FIFA is a body that deals with matters that require immediate action between meetings of the FIFA Council.

Zürich (Switzerland)-based the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA, is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer and futsal.

Zürich (Switzerland)-based the FIFA Council is an institution of FIFA. It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of the FIFA Congress. Its members are elected by the FIFA Congress. The Council is a non-executive, supervisory and strategic body that sets the vision for FIFA and global football.

The 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ is the inaugural edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™, an annual club association football tournament organized by FIFA. The tournament will comprise six teams that won the previous edition of the continental championships in each FIFA confederation playing each other in a single-elimination bracket. It got underway on September 22^nd and will conclude on December 18^th, 2024 with the first rounds at a home stadium for one team and the later rounds at a neutral venue.

‘INSIDEFIFA’ further stated that 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. This means that more people can see their club in action in a FIFA match in the flesh than ever before.

In Match 1, the United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain FC (which plays in the UAE Pro League, the top professional football league in the UAE) secured a 6-2 win over Auckland City FC of New Zealand (which plays in the Northern League, an amateur New Zealand association football competition) in their FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ African-Asian-Pacific Cup playoff at the 25,000-capacity Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain (UAE) on September 22^nd.

Silverware will be at stake as of Match 2 when the victors from the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup Play-Off meet the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League (an annual club football competition contested by the top-division African clubs) 2023-2024 winners Al Ahly SC (Egyptian professional sports club) in Cairo, Egypt, on October 29^th to compete for the FIFA African-Asian-Pacific Cup.

Match 3 – officially named the FIFA Derby of the Americas – will take place on December 11^th, 2024 and will feature the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) Champions Cup 2024 winners C.F. Pachuca (Mexican professional football team) and the eventual South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) Libertadores (an annual continental club football competition) 2024 champions who will be confirmed on November 30th.

‘INSIDEFIFA’ further stated that on December 14^th, 2024, the winners of Matches 2 and 3 will meet in Match 4 to compete for the FIFA Challenger Cup and a place in the final.

On December 18^th, 2024, Qatar’s National Day and the two-year anniversary of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ trophy decider between Argentina and France, the FIFA Challenger Cup champions will face Real Madrid CF (LaLiga team of Spain), winners of the 2023-2024 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League (a club-based tournament that features the top European clubs) in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™ (Match 5).

6th of October City (Egypt)-based the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in Africa. It was established on February 8th, 1957 at the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan by the national football associations of: Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Miami (US)-based the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as Concacaf, is one of FIFA’s six continental governing bodies for association football.

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA’s six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay.

Nyon (Switzerland)-based the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan, as well as the West Asian countries of Cyprus, Armenia and Israel. The UEFA consists of 55 national association members. Since 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian national teams and clubs from any FIFA and UEFA competitions.

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