The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Begins
After months of anticipation, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 has finally arrived! The tournament kicks off this weekend in the United States, with the opening match on Saturday night in Miami, where Inter Miami CF will face Al Ahly. The 10-day transfer window, designed for Club World Cup participants to strengthen their teams, has already closed. Several star players are ready to debut with Real Madrid (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Hujisen), Manchester City (Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki), and Chelsea (Liam Delap). The action will be constant, with 63 matches throughout the next month. The tournament will feature renowned European teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus, Chelsea, and Inter Milan. In addition, the best clubs from other continents will be present, from Argentina’s Boca Juniors and River Plate to Brazil’s Botafogo, winner of the 2024 Copa Libertadores, and Al Ahly, the Egyptian club with ten participations in the Club World Cup. Here’s a complete guide to the teams, their path to the tournament, and our predictions.GROUP A
Al Ahly
League: Egyptian Premier League.Classification: Winner of the 2020-21 CAF Champions League.Objective: As a 12-time African champion and the CAF’s African Club of the 20th Century, Al Ahly is accustomed to being the “big fish” in Egypt and Africa. They always aim to win titles. Although they have almost 120 years of history, the reality of talent and resources could make it difficult for them to reach the knockout rounds. While they may not possess the individual talent of Estevao from Palmeiras, Samu Aghehowa from FC Porto, or, of course, Lionel Messi from Inter Miami in Group A, they have extensive experience in major tournaments. Players like Zizo, Mahmoud Trézéguet, and Achraf Bencharki could give them a good boost. The new coach, Jose Riveiro, who made Orlando Pirates of South Africa competitive again with an attractive attacking style, has set a place in the round of 16 as the tournament goal for Al Ahly.
Inter Miami CF
League: Major League Soccer (USA).Classification: “Host” and winner of the MLS Supporters’ Shield 2024.Objective: Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas set a goal for Inter Miami in the Club World Cup: to qualify for the knockout rounds. Coach Javier Mascherano opts for a more realistic approach, admitting that the level they will face in the Club World Cup will be higher than any match in the Concacaf Champions Cup or MLS. Mascherano insists that the squad’s depth isn’t ideal for the tournament, but the team will fight in every match. Expectations are high for any team with Messi, but Inter Miami’s goal will be to qualify for the knockout rounds.Fun fact: Inter Miami is the youngest team to compete in the tournament, after debuting in Major League Soccer during the 2020 season.Prediction: Inter Miami will fight to finish the group stage in second place and qualify for the knockout rounds. The match against Palmeiras could be the biggest challenge, although it would be crazy to bet against Messi and Luis Suárez in a tournament.Palmeiras
League: Brazilian Championship Serie A.Classification: 2021 Copa Libertadores winner.Objective: Fans of rival clubs often mock Palmeiras for never having won the intercontinental title, which is often compared to a world championship in South America. This new tournament is an ideal opportunity to silence the critics. Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira reminds some of a young José Mourinho in terms of tactics and, most importantly, devising a winning plan. Recognizing the importance of the occasion, the club has given him many attacking players. Forward Vitor Roque is the most expensive player a Brazilian club has signed, Uruguayan midfielder Facundo Torres comes from the MLS, and prodigy Estevao will join Chelsea after the competition. Palmeiras dreams of going all the way.Fun fact: The club of the large Italian community in São Paulo, Palmeiras, was originally called “Palestra Italia”. After the Second World War, they adopted the more tropical name “palmeras”.Prediction: With a strong team and a brilliant coach, it would be unwise to underestimate them. A key question: Will Ferreira be too cautious in tight matches? Anything less than the quarter-finals would be a major disappointment.Porto
League: Portuguese Primeira Liga.Ranking: Fifth-ranked team in the UEFA ranking over four years.Objective: FC Porto finished third in the Primeira Liga for the second consecutive season, which is a disaster. Not only does it mean the loss of Champions League revenue for 24 months, but any year they finish last among the three competitors that also include Benfica and Sporting CP is a problem. They will likely see this tournament as an opportunity for redemption. “You can expect a confident and strong FC Porto,” midfielder Fabio Vieira said this week. “We see it as an opportunity to close the season in the best possible way.” Vieira is on loan from Arsenal, but his contract has been extended until July to play the entire tournament, if necessary, in addition, the club has signed Gabri Veiga from Al Ahli for 15 million euros in time to be registered. These moves support the idea that the Dragons are in this to win.Fun fact: Porto’s fearsome stadium, the Dragão, was built as part of Portugal’s bid to host Euro 2004. It opened in 2003 with an inaugural match against Barcelona, in which Lionel Messi made his first appearance.Prediction: Porto landed in Group A and will believe they can win it; beating Palmeiras, Inter Miami and Al Ahly is a realistic goal. However, the likelihood of facing PSG or Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 means they might not go much further.GROUP B
Atlético de Madrid
League: LaLiga española.Ranking: Sixth-ranked team in the UEFA ranking over four years.Objective: Being in this tournament is significant for Atlético. They are here, qualifying based on consistent performances in the Champions League since 2021, alongside Real Madrid, and Barcelona is not, and that means something. And like Real Madrid, they are looking to compensate for a disappointing end to the season, when their LaLiga title challenge faded after being controversially eliminated from the UCL by their local rivals. Atlético doesn’t have exciting new signings to showcase, but it does have some players, like Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sorloth, who finished the season in sensational form. (Sorloth scored seven goals in his last four LaLiga matches, finally earning a place in the starting eleven). Atlético’s group isn’t easy, although, somehow, they beat PSG when they faced each other in November. Here, they hope to reach the knockout stage and see what happens from there.
Botafogo
League: Brazilian Championship Serie A.Classification: Winner of the 2024 Libertadores Cup.Objective: Backed by American businessman John Textor, Botafogo of Rio de Janeiro is the current champion of Brazil and South America. But that was last year, and several vital players have left since then. Several more, particularly Igor Jesus, their wonderful center forward, will leave after the Club World Cup. The 2025 team doesn’t look as strong, and the club has struggled for a few difficult months. A few months ago, the goal for this tournament would have been to fight for the title. No such claims are made at this time, although there is hope that Portuguese coach Renato Paiva has found a combination that should mean they are competitive. Nor do they lack ambition, hence Textor’s alleged attempts to recruit Cristiano Ronaldo for the tournament.
Paris Saint-Germain
League: French Ligue 1.Ranking: Second highest-ranked team in the UEFA ranking over four years.Objective: To support being crowned European champion by winning the title of world champions. PSG’s incredible second half of the season, which culminated in their 5-0 demolition of Inter in the Champions League final, will increase the prominence before the Club World Cup. If the tournament unfolds as most expect, then a UEFA team will win and, currently, PSG is the best team in UEFA. It is noteworthy that immediately after the Champions League final in Munich, the message from the club president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, was that they were heading to the United States to win. If they manage to find the energy to play in the same way they did in the Champions League knockout rounds, there is no reason to think they won’t.
Seattle Sounders FC
League: Major League Soccer (USA).Classification: Winner of the 2022 Concacaf Champions League.Objective: In a nutshell: don’t embarrass yourself. That may seem like an exceptionally low bar, but when you consider that their easiest opponents in the group stage are Botafogo, the current holders of the Copa Libertadores title, no team has a more difficult opening set of matches than the Seattle Sounders. Sure, they will have an advantage in the local field factor, and we should not rule out a possible game-defining moment or two from playmaker/scorer Albert Rusnák, but the ambitions here will be to look competitive and avoid one-sided defeats.
GROUP C
Auckland City
League: Northern League of New Zealand.Ranking: Best winner of the OFC Champions League in the OFC ranking over four years.Objective: Given their status as an Oceanian powerhouse, Auckland City has qualified for the Club World Cup on 12 previous occasions, but many of those appearances have seen them fall in the playoffs even before the quarter-finals, although they reached the last four in 2014. They will simply be looking to give a positive image of themselves, as well as New Zealand and Oceanian football, and will only gain from the experience of facing teams like Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors.Fun fact: Auckland City will be the only amateur team in the tournament, as its players work in daily jobs and train only three or four times a week during the regular season.Prediction: The odds are firmly against them, but they really have nothing to lose. Three David versus Goliath battles await them and there will definitely be no shortage of neutrality to cheer on their endearing underdog story.Bayern Munich
League: German Bundesliga.Ranking: Highest ranked team in the UEFA ranking over four years.Objective: Like most of the big UEFA teams, Bayern Munich is here to win. After regaining the Bundesliga title from Bayer Leverkusen, the goal will be to show everyone that they are still one of the best teams in the world. Regular quarter-finalists in the Champions League and with one of the strongest squads in the tournament, Vincent Kompany and his team are confident in their chances of reaching the final rounds. Once there, as in the Champions League, anything can happen.
Benfica
League: Portuguese Primeira Liga.Ranking: Seventh-ranked team in the UEFA ranking over four years.Objective: For the second year in a row, Benfica lost the race for the Portuguese title to their fierce rivals Sporting CP. Anguishingly, the difference between the two clubs was only two points at the end. As such, the Club World Cup will now serve as the ideal distraction for the Eagles, who can quickly put behind them the domestic disappointment with a strong performance on the world stage. They have managed to keep Álvaro Carreras, a target of Real Madrid, at least for the duration of this tournament, and who knows? Perhaps some good performances will improve any eventual transfer fee.
Fun fact: In February 2025, Benfica reached 400,000 “socios” (members), the first sports club in the world to reach such a milestone.Prediction: Benfica was drawn in Group C along with Bayern Munich, Boca Juniors and Auckland City, which could be the most interesting group of teams this competition has had. Boca represents a serious threat to the assumption that the Eagles will finish second behind Bayern, and if they manage to avoid that threat, it will only get more difficult from there.Boca Juniors
League: Argentine First Division.Ranking: Second highest ranked team in the CONMEBOL ranking over four years.Objective: Thousands of people showed up to see them off at the airport before this competition, but the fans were there more in hope than expectation. These are not good times for the giants of Buenos Aires, who suffered a humiliating exit in the qualifying rounds of this year’s Copa Libertadores. The star Edinson Cavani has been struggling for form and the squad seems to lack quality. On the eve of the competition, they brought back veteran coach Miguel Ángel Russo, who led them to their last Libertadores triumph in 2007. He is thrown directly into the deep end, as Boca’s first two matches are against European opponents. The goal, then, will be to try to ensure that Boca is still alive in the competition when they face Auckland City in the last match of the group stage, and from there, relying on the spirit and commitment to carry them forward.
GROUP D
Chelsea
League: English Premier League.Classification: Winner of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.Objective: For Chelsea, this tournament is about momentum. At one point last season they were considered genuine (though tentative) title contenders, only to falter during a bad period in the middle of the campaign. This raised questions about manager Enzo Maresca’s job, but Chelsea recovered to finish strongly and qualify for the Champions League and win the UEFA Conference League. Maresca will want to take advantage of the feel-good factor in the US and position himself to take another step forward next season. Chelsea is probably out of the group of UEFA teams that will feel they have a chance to win it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a positive experience.
