Where is the 2029 Club World Cup being held? 5 potential destinations

The inaugural edition of the revamped Club World Cup is in the books but as the confetti of Chelsea’s title celebrations settles, attention at FIFA turns to the next edition.

While it might not be the World Cup, hosting a FIFA tournament is a lucrative business and understandably, plenty of countries have already hinted at interest in the 2029 tournament.

Here are the five bids that have been rumoured and which stadiums could be used.

Australia and New Zealand

Australia has been on a good run of late when it comes to hosting FIFA tournaments, despite the obvious timezone constraints.

The country beat Colombia to hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and what FIFA called “huge interest” saw the tournament become the first Women’s World Cup to have its broadcasting rights sold as a stand-alone product.

The tournament went off without a hitch, prompting former Football Australia CEO James Johnson to state that he hoped to continue the country’s momentum by submitting bids for both the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.

They were successful in the Asian Cup bid, beating interest from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, but that may mean that FIFA looks elsewhere for the 2029 tournament.

But if they are successful, it is likely that Australia would use the same venues as they did in 2023 with neighbours New Zealand also hosting some games.

Australia
Stadium Australia – Sydney (75,784)
Sydney Football Stadium – Sydney (40,583)
Lang Park – Brisbane (49,461)
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium – Melbourne (27,706)
Perth Rectangular Stadium – Perth (18,727)

New Zealand
Eden Park – Auckland (43,217)
Wellington Regional Stadium – Wellington (33,132)
Forsyth Barr Stadium – Dunedin (25,947)
Waikato Stadium – Hamilton (18,009)

Brazil

Considering Brazil spent $11 billion preparing for the 2014 World Cup, it makes sense the country would look to host more tournaments as a way of getting their costs back.

The Brazilian Football Confederation has already been successful in its bid for the 2027 Women’s World Cup and president Samir Xaud has already raised the idea of a 2029 bid to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, something the Swiss was reportedly receptive to.

The fact that it is Brazil and the spiritual home of football is also a big selling point and some of the stadiums that could be used are amongst the most iconic in world football.

The 2027 tournament will use the same venues as 2014, meaning in all likelihood that 2029 would do the same. Those are:

Estadio do Maracanã – Rio de Janeiro (73,139)
Estadio Nacional Mané Garrincha – Brasília (69,910)
Estadio Mineirão – Belo Horizonte (66,658)
Arena Castelão – Fortaleza (57,867)
Estadio Beira-Rio – Porto Alegre (50,848)
Arena Corinthians – Sao Paulo (48,905)
Arena Fonte Nova – Salvador (47,915)
Arena Pernambuco – Recife (45,440)

Qatar

Qatar in football has forever become a byword for corruption, given the nature of awarding the country the 2022 World Cup, but the Arab nation has expressed a desire to host the 2029 tournament.

The main selling point they claim is that due to the close nature of the existing stadiums, it could be a carbon-neutral tournament, but as the world found out in 2022, hosting a tournament in Qatar in the summer is impossible.

That means a 2029 bid would be under the proposition that the Club World Cup move back to the winter but European teams will raise objections to their leagues being disrupted midway through again.

If FIFA does however give the tournament to Qatar, they would most likley use the same eight stadiums that featured in 2022.

Lusail Stadium – Lusail (88,966)
Al Bayt Stadium – Al Khor (68,895)
Khalifa International Stadium – Al Rayyan (45,857)
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium – Al Rayyan (45,032)
Education City Stadium – Al Rayyan (44,667)
Al Thumama Stadium – Doha (44,400)
Al Janoub Stadium – Al Wakrah (44,325)
Stadium 974 – Doha (44,089)

Spain, Portugal and Morocco

Of the rumoured bids, it would seem that Spain, Portugal and Morocco’s is the strongest.

The reason for that is the trio are the 2030 World Cup hosts so, like the US did this year, they will hope to use the 2029 tournament as preparation for the following year.

The idea of an incident-free World Cup could be a major selling point to the voting panel and it would also be the first time the tournament has been held in Europe. It had been due to be in 2001 but the tournament was cancelled after the collapse of FIFA’s marketing partner ISL.

Morocco had initially wanted to host the 2029 tournament on its own, having done so in 2022, 2014 and 2013 but a meeting in Lisbon between the three nations resulted in the joint bid.

If they were successful, the stadiums used would most likely be the same as the 2030 venues but those have yet to be decided. Here are the eight biggest stadiums:

Spain
Camp Bou – Barcelona (105,000)
Santiago Bernabeu – Madrid (85,000)
Metropolitano – Madrid (70,692)
Estadio de La Cartuja – Seville (70,000)

Morroco
Hassan II Stadium – Casablanca (115,000)
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium – Rabat (68,700)
Ibn Batouta Stadium – Tangier (65,000)

Portugal
Estadio da Luz – Lisbon (68,100)

United States

Never put it past Infantino and FIFA to use tournaments for their own gain and with that in mind, there has been the suggestion that they could offer the 2029 showpiece to the US once again.

Ignoring the lengthy delays due to thunderstorms and the fact that the US has already had one edition of the Club World Cup as well as the FIFA World Cup next summer, the attractiveness of gaining new American sponsors could see us back in the US in five years’ time.

If that were the case, the organisers may learn from their mistakes and use some smaller stadiums but if not, here’s the ones that were used in the tournament just gone.

Rose Bowl – Los Angeles (89,702)
MetLife Stadium – New York (82,500)
Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte (74,867)
Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta (71,000)
Lumen Field – Seattle (68,740)
Lincoln Financial Field – Philadelphia (67,594)
Hard Rock Stadium – Miami (64,767)
Camping World Stadium – Orlando (60,219)
Geodis Park – Nashville (30,109)
TQL Stadium – Cincinnati (26,000)
Inter&Co Stadium – Orlando (25,500)
Audi Field – Washington (20,000)

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