Expansion, expansion, expansion! This is the rage at FIFA headquarters.
More teams, more games, more injuries, more money. It’s about more, and there aren’t many better examples of governing body gluttony than the revamped Club World Cup.
Instead of the six confederate champions competing in an admittedly low-key event at the end of the year, FIFA is touting its new and improved club competition as a summer festival featuring the world’s best horns.
Much of the world will be represented in the US next summer, with all 32 qualifying spots already filled. We take a look at the teams that will compete at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
It should come as no great surprise that UEFA will be heavily represented at the 2025 Club World Cup. 12 of the 32 teams competing are European.
These include the latest Champions League winners: Chelsea, Real Madrid i Manchester City. The other nine participants were qualified through the UEFA rankings.
Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter, Porto i Benfica All were confirmed as qualifiers at the end of 2023, and have since joined the 2024 Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmundas well as Juventus, Atlético de Madrid i Red Bull Salzburg.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona are among the heavy hitters that could miss out.
The four most recent winners of the Copa Libertadores are all Brazilian, but they are all different!
Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense i Botafogo all have reserved their place for next summer’s tournament by winning the Libertadores.
To these four will be added enemies of the Superclássico River Plate i Boca Juniorswhich are the two highest CONMEBOL clubs not to win the Libertadores since 2021.
There will be no Cristiano Ronaldo in the US next summer, but we may be in for some Neymar, although that is far from a guarantee.
Al Hilal is one of three teams qualified for the tournament 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 they are the last victors.
Club of South Korea Ulsan HD they are the only team in the AFC that is ranked according to the standings. Ulsan has won three consecutive K League titles and won the AFC Champions League twice.
Al Ahly They have historically been the most dominant team in Africa, and it was a plus for next summer’s competition, having won three of the previous four CAF Champions Leagues.
Wydad AC Morocco are the only team to break Al Ahly’s monopoly on the competition in recent times.
Hope of Tunis will make their fourth appearance at the Club World Cup in 2025, while that of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns they are ready for their second outing in the tournament.
There are no clubs ‘qualified’ to qualify from CONCACAF. The top four are all recent CONCACAF Champions League winners.
2021 winners Monterrey and 2024 champions Pachuca they are Club World Cup veterans, with both teams preparing for their sixth and fifth appearances respectively. lion they have less experience having qualified for the tournament only once.
Mexico’s recent dominance in the CONCACAF Champions League was broken by the Seattle Sounders in 2022, but they won’t be the only MLS representative at home next summer.
There was only one space available for the OFC, which has been occupied by Auckland City. The prolific New Zealand side have won the OFC Champions League 12 times and have won the previous three competitions.
from FIFA: “Inter Miami qualify as a representative team of the host country according to the club’s criteria exceptional and consistent 34 game campaign this saw them secure the shield with two MLS games to play.”
Despite their regular-season supremacy, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami were kicked out of the play-offs at the first time of asking, but FIFA announced the Herons as the hosts’ representatives ahead of their loss to Atlanta United.
There’s sure to be plenty of vintage star power when Messi’s Miami kicks off the tournament on June 15.
