Blazer appointed chairman of FIFA Club World Cup Organizing Committee

June 10, 2009

NEW YORK — CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer will take over as chairman of the FIFA Club World Cup Organizing Committee, replacing Viacheslav Koloskov for the championship set to be played in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Blazer, who has served as the head of the organizing committees for the FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup and Women’s Under-17 World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2003 and 2005, assumes responsibility for a tournament in its sixth year and moving out of Japan for the first time since the inaugural event in Brazil in 2000.

“Having chaired five FIFA world championships, taking on this event with the best clubs in the world is a new and great opportunity,” Blazer said. “With the recent launch of our Champions League, the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup has taken on greater meaning within our region.”

The Club World Cup grew out of the Toyota Cup and its predecessor, the Intercontinental Cup – which was played as a one-game championship between the winners of the European and South American club tournaments. The Club World Cup now includes the champions of all six continental confederations, including the CONCACAF Champions League winner.

As a member of the FIFA Executive Committee since 1996, Blazer ascends to the chairmanship for Koloskov, an Executive Committee from Russia for three decades whose term expired earlier this year.

Besides having served on numerous FIFA committees, including as the current vice-chair of the players status committee, and as a board member of the FIFA Marketing and TV, Blazer chaired the two most recent Women’s U-20 World Cup tournaments in Russia in 2006 and Chile in 2008 as well as last year’s Women’s U-17 World Cup in New Zealand.

As a driving force along with then Asian confederation General Secretary Petter Velappan, Blazer was a driving force in 1992 behind the creation of the King Fahd Cup, which evolved into the Confederations Cup that Blazer chaired twice.

“This will be an exciting challenge,” Blazer said. “And helping this competition become even better will be a great reward.”

Go to Source

Share and Enjoy: