The FIFA Club World Cup knows 21 of the 32 participants for 2025. Which clubs will be there?

The FIFA Club World Cup will be played in a tournament system from 2025. 32 teamswill take part and the group stage will be followed by a knockout phase. At the moment, 21 teams are known that will not be missing among the world’s elite.

Teams from Europe

As with the knockout format of the FIFA Club World Cup as we know it, European teams will be among the clear favourites for the whole tournament. As the reigning winners of the previous edition of the Champions League, Manchester City are of course not missing out. Whatever happens, next year the Citizens will be among the very hottest candidates for the overall championship.

Of course, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter Milan and PSG are also not missing as teams that have won the most prestigious club competition in Europe in the recent past or at least participated in the final match but failed to win.

From Europe, teams like Dortmund, Porto, Benfica and, surprisingly, Juventus of Turin, who are not even playing any European competition this season, have also made it to the championship after FIFA recalculated the coefficients in a certain way.

The winner of this year’s and next year’s Champions League will also qualify. Of course, if the Champions League is won by a team that has already qualified, the furthest advancing team should get a place.

Teams from Africa

There are now 2 clear representatives from Africa. Egypt’s Al-Ahly and Morocco’s Wydad. Fans can look forward to Anthony Modeste, who in his best years raged on the pitches of the German Bundesliga in the colours of Cologne. As well as the Europeans, 2 more winning teams from the African Champions League will be taking part.

Teams from Asia

The names of the clubs from Asia will probably not surprise anyone. The Urawa Reds, a team that has played very often in the current competition system, will play in the World Cup.

Al-Hilal, which is pumped full of stars after the summer transfer period, will have only the highest goals. We can thus look forward to matches of Neymar, Malcom and co. against Europe’s best. The rule for qualifying the other 2 teams is the same as for the previous continents.

Teams from the Americas

From the Americas, whether from the CONCACAF or CONMEBOL zone, we will come across the Seattle Sounders, Monterrey, the traditional Brazilian clubs Flamengo, Fluminense, Leon and Palmeiras. If Messi’s Miami manages to qualify for the Champions League and subsequently win it, we’ll see his as well. The CONMEBOL zone still needs 3 participants and the CONCACAF zone needs 2.

The last certain entrant is New Zealand club Auckland City. In this case it is even a semi-professional club! Most likely it will be the biggest underdog of the whole tournament.

FIFA Club World Cup – date

The FIFA Club World Cup will start with the opening match on 13 June next year and the first ever winner under the new system will be announced on 13 July. The only change from the previous system in the play-off phase is the omission of the 3rd place match, which usually has to be played only out of obligation.

Source: FIFA