Expand, expand, expand! Such is the rage at FIFA headquarters.
More teams, more games, more injuries, more money. It’s all about more, and there aren’t too many higher examples of governing body gluttony than the revamped Club World Cup.
Instead of the six confederation champions competing in an admittedly low-key end-of-year event, FIFA is touting its new and improved club competition as a summer festival of the world’s best locking horns.
Much of the globe will be represented in the US next summer, with the 32 qualifying spots now filled. Let’s take a look at the teams that will compete in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
It should come as no great surprise that UEFA will be heavily represented at the 2025 Club World Cup. 12 of the 32 competing teams are European.
Among them are the recent Champions League winners – Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City. The other nine participants all qualified via the UEFA qualification route.
Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto and Benfica all confirmed as late 2023 qualifiers and have since been added to the 2024 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmundas well as Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Red Bull Salzburg.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona are among the heavy hitters to lose.
The four most recent Copa Libertadores winners are all Brazilian, but they’re all different!
Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo have booked all their places in next summer’s tournament by winning the Libertadores.
These four will be joined by Superclasico rivals River Plate and Boca Juniorswho are the two highest-ranked CONMEBOL clubs who have not won the Libertadores since 2021.
There will be no Cristiano Ronaldo in the US next summer, but we might get to enjoy some Neymar – although that’s far from guaranteed.
Al Hilal are one of three teams to qualify for the competition due to their success in the AFC Champions League. They won the competition in 2021. Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds and Dubai-based outfit Al Ain are the most recent winners.
club of South Korea Ulsan HD they are the only AFC team to qualify based on ranking. Ulsan have won three consecutive K League titles and are two-time winners of the AFC Champions League.
Al Ahli they have historically been the most dominant team in Africa, and were a good team for next summer’s tournament, given that they have won three of the previous four CAF Champions Leagues.
Wydad AC of Morocco are the only team to break Al Ahli’s monopoly in the competition in recent times.
Hope of Tunis will make their fourth appearance at the Club World Cup in 2025, while South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns are prepared for their second outing in the tournament.
There are no “ranked” clubs to qualify from CONCACAF. The four qualifiers are all recent CONCACAF Champions League winners.
2021 winners Monterrey and champions 2024 Patsuka are Club World Cup veterans, with both teams preparing for their sixth and fifth appearances respectively. Leon they are less experienced having only qualified for the tournament once.
Mexico’s recent dominance of the CONCACAF Champions League was broken by the Seattle Sounders in 2022, but it won’t be the only representative of MLS at home next summer.
There was only one seat available for OFC, which has been taken by Auckland City. The prolific New Zealand outfit are 12-time OFC Champions League winners and have won the previous three competitions.
From FIFA:”Inter Miami to qualify as the representative team of the host country based on the club’s data excellent and consistent 34 game campaign which saw them secure the shield with two MLS games to play.”
Despite their regular-season dominance, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami were knocked out of the play-offs at the first time of asking, yet FIFA announced the Herons as the hosts’ representatives ahead of their defeat by Atlanta United.
There is sure to be plenty of vintage stardom on display when Messi’s Miami kicks off the tournament on June 15.
