In December 2023, more details of the new-look Club World Cup were revealed by FIFA but the tournament is scheduled for the United States in the summer of 2025. This annual football championship which started in the year 2000 will now be held once in four years, a year before the FIFA World Cup.
An enhanced format will comprise 32 teams, which comprises the best continua teams of the last four years, alongside some of the clubs. Instead of the annual event, FIFA plans to launch the FIFA Intercontinental Cup which will have a similar format to the old Club World Cup but with some changes. Intercontinental Cup takes its name from the former event of annual football between the champions of Europe and South America last held in 2004.
2025 Club World Cup Schedule
The tournament will take place from 15/06/2025 to 13/07/2025. A schedule of fixtures and draws is yet to be released because some of the participating teams have not been mentioned. The dates were chosen to fall within the I.M.C. fixture list to provide a break between the end of the competition and the beginning of European domestic leagues. Nonetheless, clubs from the leagues of the two confederations, the CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, which employ a calendar-based system of the season, will have to abide by this tournament’s schedule.
Squads in the Club World Cup 2025
Excluding two confederations, six slots have been added to the 2025 Club World Cup: there will be 4 representatives from each of them instead of the previous 3. There will be 12 from UEFA, six from CONMEBOL, and one from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). Also, the host will be granted another place through a nomination system because of the desire to improve the tournament’s image and combine it with some competitiveness factors.
There will be qualification for the tournament in the sense that a particular club will be given an automatic ticket into the tournament if it wins a continental trophy within the four years preceding the tournament. In addition, should a club secure multiple continental championships the second-place finishers for that year will also be admitted to the tournament.
What’s new in the format with the 2025 version is that FIFA will stipulate qualification history, thus, enabling certain clubs to qualify for the world event even if they may have already earned their memberships in previous Club World Cups.
Though the extra host nation place for 2025 is still pending official confirmation, most anticipate it to be given to Inter Miami, the 2024 Supporters’ Shield winners which would allow Lionel Messi to compete in the event. All this information was published by Argentine journalist Gaston Edul on the 3rd of October.
Here's the information formatted in a table:
Club | Confederation | Nation | Qualified Via |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Hilal | AFC | Saudi Arabia | 2021 AFC Champions League winners |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | AFC | Japan | 2022 AFC Champions League winners |
| Al Ain | AFC | UAE | 2023/24 AFC Champions League winners |
| Ulsan HD | AFC | South Korea | Highest-ranking unqualified AFC club |
| Al Ahly | CAF | Egypt | 2021/22 CAF Champions League winners |
| Wydad Casablanca | CAF | Morocco | 2021/22 CAF Champions League winners |
| Esperance de Tunis | CAF | Tunisia | Highest-ranking unqualified CAF club |
| Mamelodi Sundowns | CAF | South Africa | 2nd highest-ranking unqualified CAF club |
| Monterrey | CONCACAF | Mexico | 2021 CONCACAF Champions League winners |
| Seattle Sounders | CONCACAF | USA | 2022 CONCACAF Champions League winners |
| Club Leon | CONCACAF | Mexico | 2023 CONCACAF Champions League winners |
| Pachuca | CONCACAF | Mexico | 2024 CONCACAF Champions League winners |
| TBD | CONCACAF | USA | Club from host nation |
| Palmeiras | CONMEBOL | Brazil | 2021 Copa Libertadores winners |
| Flamengo | CONMEBOL | Brazil | 2022 Copa Libertadores winners |
| Fluminense | CONMEBOL | Brazil | 2023 Copa Libertadores winners |
| River Plate/TBD | CONMEBOL | — | 2024 Copa Libertadores winners |
| River Plate/Olimpia | CONMEBOL | Argentina | Highest-ranking unqualified CONMEBOL club |
| Boca Juniors | CONMEBOL | Argentina | 2nd highest-ranking unqualified CONMEBOL club |
| Auckland City | OFC | New Zealand | Highest-ranking OFC club across four-year period |
| Chelsea | UEFA | England | 2020/21 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Real Madrid | UEFA | Spain | 2021/22 & 2023/24 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Man City | UEFA | England | 2022/23 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Bayern Munich | UEFA | Germany | Highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| PSG | UEFA | France | 2nd highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Inter Milan | UEFA | Italy | 3rd highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Porto | UEFA | Portugal | 4th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Benfica | UEFA | Portugal | 5th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Borussia Dortmund | UEFA | Germany | 6th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Juventus | UEFA | Italy | 7th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Atletico Madrid | UEFA | Spain | 8th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
| Red Bull Salzburg | UEFA | Austria | 9th highest-ranking unqualified UEFA club |
How does FIFA rank clubs for Club World Cup qualification?
The end of 2023 saw FIFA come up with a new club ranking formula which will be used in qualification for the Club World Cup.
This will mean that teams will amass points from the stage of rivals’ club championship of their confederation being the highest tier. In particular, three points shall be awarded for a win as well as a single point for a draw. Finally, teams will get three points for qualifying in each of the knockout phases.
However, UEFA clubs are exempted from this form of commercialization. In qualifying for the Club World Cup, UEFA will retain the coefficient ranking system it has been using previously. In this system, European clubs receive 2 points for a win in the group stage together with 1 point for a draw. They also get four points for the group stage five points for the Round of 16 and points for other stages in the tournament.
2025 Club World Cup host cities
The organizers of the 2025 Club World Cup announced the venues in mid-September, and although most of them are in the United States, they are designed to be concentrated largely east of the Mississippi River. This was decided to reduce the movement of teams and fans, particularly because the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup will also take place in the United States during the same competition window.
About a third of the Club World Cup games will be played in east coast locations while the Gold Cup games will be played for the most part in the western part of the country although there will be two games at Club World Cup venues.
Here are the venues for the 2025 Club World Cup:
Venue | Location | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | Pasadena, CA | 88,500 |
| MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ | 82,500 |
| Bank of America Stadium | Charlotte, NC | 75,000 |
| Mercedes-Benz Stadium | Atlanta, GA | 75,000 |
| Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia, PA | 69,000 |
| Lumen Field | Seattle, WA | 69,000 |
| Hard Rock Stadium | Miami, FL | 65,000 |
| Camping World Stadium | Orlando, FL | 65,000 |
| GEODIS Park | Nashville, TN | 30,000 |
| TQL Stadium | Cincinnati, OH | 26,000 |
| Inter&Co Stadium | Orlando, FL | 25,000 |
| Audi Field | Washington, DC | 20,000 |
2025 Club World Cup Format
Specifically, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will draw 32 clubs’ participation and will be played for a month with the system of group stage and knockout stage like those of the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Champions League.
- Group Stage:
- Teams will be divided into eight groups of four.
- The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage.
- Knockout Stage:
- Sixteen teams will compete in a single-elimination format.
- The tournament will progress from the Round of 16 to the final.
- There will be no third-place playoff in this edition.
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