One year before 48 of the best men’s national soccer teams arrive in North America for the World Cup, 32 of the best club teams will arrive in the United States for the first edition of an expanded Club World Cup in 2025. .
Participants will include the top 12 European teams based on their Champions League performances, including Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Clubs from the rest of the world will qualify from their various continental club championships.
Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders earned a spot by winning the 2022 Concacaf Champions League, and teams from Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere have already qualified, with more than half the field yet to be determined.
fifa announced on friday that the United States would host the event. The cities where the games will take place and the exact format of the tournament have yet to be revealed. The event is expected to take place in June and July.
FIFA has long dreamed of a world championship for club teams that could one day rival the major international team events it organizes. At one point, a 24-team version of the event for China was announced but scrapped, partly due to the pandemic.
Under the current format, started in 2005, the Club World Cup has been held annually in the winter months, with seven teams, one from each continent and one from the host country. The expanded event, long proposed but delayed several times, is expected to take place every four years.
Despite the global field, European teams almost always win the event, and with 12 of 32 entrants in the new format, they are likely to continue to do so. This means that the Club World Cup could essentially become an upgraded version of the European Champions League. It would also add to the nearly year-long game schedule for top players.
Partly for these reasons, Europe’s governing body UEFA, some of the top club teams and player representatives have at times been less than enthusiastic about extending the event.
JT Batson, CEO of US Soccer, he said he was excited about the next event.
In addition to the 12 European entrants, the 2025 event will include six teams from South America; four each from Asia, Africa, and the North and Central America and Caribbean region; one from Oceania; and one from the host country, in this case the United States.
The expanded Club World Cup will come a year before the 2026 World Cup, which will have most of its games, including the final, in the United States, with some games in Canada and Mexico. In 2024, the United States will host the Copa América, the championship for South American teams.
