The FIFA Confederations Cup is an international tournament which is held once every four years by FIFA. There are eight teams which compete in the tournament, the winners of continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA), along with the current FIFA World Cup holder, and the host nation for the tournament.
Since 2005, the tournament has always been hosted by the nation that will host the next FIFA World Cup, which is generally seen as a test event for the World Cup itself. The tournament that was due to take place in Qatar, in 2021, is scheduled to be moved to another Asian country, due to concerns that the high temperatures which are present in Qatar during the summe
r months, will have adverse effects on the players’ health and ability to perform.
The tournament was first organised by, and held in Saudi Arabia, and was initially named the King Fahd Cup. The competition was contested in 1992 and 1995 by the Saudi national side and some of the other continental champions, so in 1997, FIFA decided to take over the organisation of the tournament and in the process renamed it the FIFA Confederations Cup, staging the competition every two years. This was changed in 2005 to once every four years, as it was felt by a number of the competitors that having the tournament every two years led to international teams potentially being too busy to play their main squads, in the large number of football tournaments held each year.
