It will be the first men's final Bach has not attended since 1986.

Bach attended the opening game of this year's World Cup on November 20 between hosts Qatar and Ecuador but contracted coronavirus the following week, which forced him to hold a series of meetings during the IF Forum virtually.

"I had planned to fly to Qatar," Bach told German newspapers Stuttgarter Nachrichten and Stuttgarter Zeitung in an interview.

"Now, however, on the advice of the doctors, I will not travel after all.

"They told me to take it easy after the infection.

"It's the first World Cup final I've missed since 1986.

"That's tough for me."

The IOC President is traditionally invited to the final of football's flagship tournament by their counterpart at FIFA.

At the last final, in Moscow four years ago when he was invited by Gianni Infantino, Bach took the opportunity to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the allegations of institutional doping by the home team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Then, Bach claimed it was time to bring "Russian sport fully back into the international sports community" following the scandal.

After the meeting, Bach travelled to the Luzhniki Stadium where he watched France's 4-2 win over Croatia.

He had accepted a similar invite from Infantino's predecessor Sepp Blatter to attend the 2014 final in Rio de Janeiro, a year after being elected as IOC President.

Then, Bach witnessed his own country Germany beat Argentina 1-0.

On that occasion, he sat next to Putin, who was there as Russia was hosting the next World Cup.