The new version of the FIFA Club World Cup, the 2025 edition to be held this summer, is fast approaching. While the draw will be held this Thursday, the 32 teams are already known and preparations are slowly coming to an end.
The FIFA President has been dreaming of it for several years and it will happen in the coming months. While the idea has been coming up regularly since 2016, the new version of the Club World Cup will be held in the summer of 2025 after the project was postponed to 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially scheduled for China, the competition will finally take place in the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025 and will bring together 32 teams. This weekend, with Botafogo’s victory against Atlético Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores final (3-1), we know the identity of the different participating clubs.
We obviously find the best teams in Europe who have won the last editions of the Champions League, such as Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, but also Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Juventus. Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto, Atlético de Madrid, Benfica and Salzburg are the other European participants. Due to the limit of two clubs per country on the number of participants imposed by UEFA, we note many notable absences such as Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham in the Premier League, FC Barcelona in La Liga or AC Milan in Serie A
With six tickets, CONMEBOL advances with four Brazilian clubs, the last winners of the Copa Libertadores. Thus, Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo will defend the Auriverdes colours while the two big names from Buenos Aires, River Plate and Boca Juniors will also be there.
On the Asian side, Al-Hilal, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al-Aïn and Ulsan Hyundai will be on the trip, as will Auckland City in Oceania. In North America, the Mexican clubs (Monterrey, Club Leon and Pachuca) and the United States (Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami) will try to play spoilsport. The opportunity to see Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in action against the European big names. Finally, Africa will have 4 quality representatives with Al Ahly, Wydad Cassablanca, Espérance Tunis and Mamelodi Sundowns.
Still some gray areas
While the 32 teams will be divided into 8 groups of 4 teams with the first two qualifying for the round of 16, the draw will be held this Thursday, December 5 at 1 p.m. in Miami, or 7 p.m. French time. For the moment, however, we do not know the terms since no pot has been announced. However, we can already think that each group will be limited to one team per confederation except UEFA which will be able to have a maximum of two (12 teams for 8 groups) as is done in the World Cup.
The identity of the twelve stadiums of the competition is known, but they have not yet been assigned to the different groups (even if we can imagine Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders playing at home). The twelve stadiums are located in Seattle, Pasadena, Miami, Orlando (two stadiums), Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Cincinnati, Washington, Philadelphia and East Rutherford. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford will also be the venue for the final on July 13.
