ZÜRICH: FIFA, the international governing body of football, announced the tournaments and events taking place in 2024.
Qualifying continues for the biggest-ever FIFA World Cup, while The Best FIFA Football Awards, two thrilling youth tournaments, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and the FIFA Futsal World Cup are also on the agenda.
The Best FIFA Football Awards 2023
Football’s leading players and coaches will gather on 15 January 2024 in London at the start of the year for FIFA’s annual celebration of the beautiful game. A host of awards will be handed out, with the standout performers from the women’s and men’s game to be honoured for their achievements.
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
There will be 16 nations battling it out for glory on the sands of Dubai over 11 days of thrilling action from 15 February – 25 February. Brazil, IR Iran, Italy, Japan and Portugal appear to be the teams to beat, while Chiky Ardil, Catarino, Edson Hulk, Felipe, Marco Giordani, Be and Leo Martins, Moslem Mesigar and Ozu Moreira
are just a few of the star names to watch out for.
FIFA World Cup 26 qualifiers
The road to Canada, Mexico and USA for FIFA World Cup 26 continues throughout 2024, with qualifying from three confederations – AFC, CAF and CONMEBOL – already under way. The action for the Concacaf and OFC nations commences this year, with UEFA following suit early in 2025.
Olympic Football Tournaments
Men’s Olympic Football Tournament (24 July – 9 August)
Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (25 July – 10 August)
The men’s and women’s tournaments at Paris 2024 will take place across seven venues throughout France. The 12 qualified teams in the women’s event will be split into three groups of four. The top two from each group, along with the best two third-placed teams, will reach the knockout phase. For the men, the 16 qualifiers go into four groups of four, with the top two from each group reaching the knockouts.
Canada are the current women’s champions, while Brazil claimed gold in the men’s event in Japan.
FIFA Interco
ntinental Cup
A new tournament featuring the premier club competition champions from all six confederations and concluding with a final in December 2024 at a neutral venue between the UEFA Champions League winners and the winners of an intercontinental play-off between clubs from the other confederations. The official name of the competition will be the Coupe Intercontinentale de la FIFA.
FIFA Futsal World Cup (14 September – 6 October) Uzbekistan
FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (31 August – 22 September) Colombia
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (16 October – 3 November) Dominican Republic
Source: Emirates News Agency