FIFA Club World Cup: Everything you need to know

"A new era is beginning. Soccer united the world with the World Cup. But what was missing was something for club football to determine who was the best club in the world. We have it now." This is the conclusion reached by the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, before welcoming fans of "the beautiful game" to the unprecedented Club World Cup, a competition that has acquired a new format and will be played from June 14 to July 13 in the United States, to be held every four seasons, just like the World Cup.

Change of format of the Club World Cup

Thirty-two of the best teams from each of the continents will face each other in the Club World Cup, which will be marked by a schedule of 63 matches divided into five different rounds: a group stage, the round of 16, the quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

Until now, seven teams participated in the Club World Cup, which, in sporting terms, corresponded to the Champions League champions of each of the confederations: UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa) and OFC (Oceania), plus the local league champion of the country hosting the Club World Cup. Last year it was not played: instead, the Intercontinental Cup was held, won by Real Madrid.

Under the new format, all participants will play at least three matches. The top two finishers in each of the first-phase groups will advance to the round of 16. From that round onwards, the tournament will have a direct elimination system until the final.

An important nuance of this new Club World Cup format is that extra time has been eliminated. That is to say, when the 90 minutes of play are completed and the result is a draw, the duel will go directly to the penalty shootout, omitting the 30 extra minutes that are usually played in other competitions.

Participating teams and group stage

The first phase will have a draw of eight groups with four teams each from different confederations, except for four of those groups, which will have two UEFA representatives. The draw was held on Dec. 5, 2024.

UEFA will be represented by 12 teams: Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Chelsea and Manchester City (England), Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Inter Milan and Juventus (Italy), Benfica and Porto (Portugal) and Salzburg (Austria).

On the CONMEBOL side, six teams will attend: Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo (Brazil), as well as River Plate and Boca Juniors (Argentina). CONCACAF will bring five participants: Monterrey and Pachuca (Mexico), Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders (USA) and another which will be determined by the duel between Los Angeles FC (USA) and Club America (Mexico), after FIFA left out Club Leon (Mexico) for organizational reasons.

Two other confederations have four slots each. On the CAF side, there will be Al Ahly (Egypt), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa). Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) and Ulsan HD (South Korea) will represent the AFC. Finally, only Auckland City (New Zealand) will be present as OFC holders.

Schedule

The group stage will run from June 14 to 26. The Club World Cup will open with the clash between Al Ahly and Inter Miami, which earned its ticket for the fans by playing host. The day after the end of the group stage will serve as a rest day.

The round of 16 is scheduled to be played between June 28 and July 1 and, July 4 and 5, are the dates earmarked for the quarterfinals, with a two-day break between the two rounds.

After no matches are played on July 6 and 7, July 8 and 9 will be the days for the semifinals. The final will be on July 13.

Stadiums

Initially, the Club World Cup with this new format was to begin to be played in 2021. And the host country was to be China. However, the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed all FIFA's plans, and the sports world, in general, and decided to postpone it.

On Dec. 16, 2022, Infantino confirmed that the new format would begin to be played in the summer of 2025, although he announced that China would no longer host the competition. Half a year later, on June 23, 2023, FIFA awarded the United States the honor of hosting the 2025 Club World Cup.

From that point on, preparations began for the Club World Cup. One of the unknowns that had to be cleared up was the cities and stadiums that would host the competition. On Sept. 28, 2024, after a meeting between all the parties involved, the 12 venues that would host the matches were announced, and most of them are concentrated on the East Coast.