Fifa has announced that Qatar’s Education City Stadium, the planned venue for Liverpool’s Club World Cup semi-final, will not host any matches in the tournament.
Liverpool’s semi-final, the final and third-place play-off have all been moved to the nearby 40,000-seat Khalifa International Stadium. The official opening of Education City has now been postponed until early 2020.
Fifa has said that construction of the Doha stadium was complete and the venue was operational, but the necessary certification processes took longer than expected and the stadium was therefore unable to host test events.
“The priority is to ensure an enjoyable experience for all fans so it was decided to open the [Education City] stadium at a later date,” Fifa’s statement added.
“Fans who successfully applied for tickets to matches [Liverpool’s semi-final and the final and third-place play-off double-header] will not be impacted – all their tickets will be automatically issued to Khalifa International Stadium, and their seats will be allocated within the same price category,” the statement continued.
“The date and time of those matches will remain as previously indicated. In due course, all successful ticket applicants will receive a dedicated email with further information, including details of how and when to download the tickets from their account on Fifa.com/tickets.”
“Liverpool FC can confirm we have been informed by Fifa that our two matches in the Club World Cup will now be played at Khalifa International Stadium and not Education City as planned,” said a club statement.
“As per our protocols, we will now send relevant officials to Qatar in the coming days to inspect Khalifa International Stadium. We will update supporters next week on any additional information as a result of the change of stadium.”
While the late change of venue should not lead to significant upheaval for Liverpool’s squad and supporters – the grounds are only 10km apart on the outskirts of Doha – the news comes as a blow to Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup.
With Education City Stadium, one of eight planned World Cup venues, not ready, the Club World Cup will use only two venues – the Khalifa Stadium and Doha’s Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, which will not be used in 2022.
The seven-team tournament begins on 11 December, with Liverpool’s semi-final on 18 December and the final on 21 December.
