FIFA revamps world club challenge
ZURICH, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Two days after Europe's elite demanded the Club World Championship be scrapped, FIFA has announced a revamp of the tournament.
FIFA's new plan will incorporate the annual fixture between the European and South American champions.
The six-team championship will be played in 2005 and 2006 over eight days, under a proposal which has to be ratified by the world governing body's executive committee on February 29.
The European and South American champions will be introduced at the semifinal stage of the championship, meaning they will play a maximum of two games.
FIFA said on Thursday that the first revamped tournament will be held in Japan in December 2005.
The World Club Cup, played most years since 1960 between the champions of South America and Europe, has been staged in Tokyo since 1980.
Last December Boca Juniors of Argentina beat AC Milan on penalties.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in a statement that the new format was not only a solution to suit all parties, but also "an expression of solidarity in world football."
On Tuesday the 102-strong European Club forum said it was totally opposed to the Club World Championship which was held for the first time in 2000 and cancelled in 2003 because of a lack of funding.
"The clubs were vehement in rejecting proposals to re-launch the FIFA Club World Championship, recalling that they had advocated a reduction of Champions League fixtures in order to lighten the workload and that it would be incoherent to support any additional tournament," the forum said in a statement.
