Can Messi’s Inter Miami book a place at the 2025 Club World Cup?

Inter Miami claimed their second title in franchise history on Wednesday night, but a big question remains: will they qualify for the Club World Cup?

The Supporters’ Shield won in Ohio consecrated the Garzas as the best team of the 2024 MLS regular season, but the top prize is the title itself - the MLS Cup - the only route left to qualify for next year’s expanded Club World Cup.

FIFA have allocated four slots to CONCACAF teams for the 2025 Club World Cup which will be held in the United States and features 32 teams for the first time. Those four slots have already been taken: Monterrey (as 2021 CONCACAF Champions League winners), Seattle Sounders (2022 CONCACAF Champions League winners), León (2023 CONCACAF Champions League winners) and Pachuca (2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners).

Two vacant places remaining for the 2025 Club World Cup

However, two slots remain to be filled. One of them will go to the winners of this year’s Copa Libertadores (the semi-finals: River Plate vs Atlético Mineiro and Peñarol vs Botafogo will be played at the end of this month).

The last remaining slot will go to a team from the United States as the tournament hosts. As of the moment, it has not yet decided whether the guest slot will be given to the team that wins the Supporters’ Shield or the team that is crowned champions on 7 December.

Either way, Inter Miami, as Supporters’ Shield winners, already have a 50 percent chance of being selected. The only foolproof way of booking a place at the next Club World Cup would be by lifting the MLS Cup.

Inter Miami’s 2024 MLS playoff schedule

Tata Martino’s team have already booked a place in the playoffs. Inter Miami enter Round One as Eastern Conference champions which means they will start the best-of-three series against the winners of a Wild Card match between teams seeded eighth and ninth. Miami will host the first game of the series and the third, if required.

Inter Miami are keen to be among the teams taking part at the next Club World Cup. They lost the first match point after being eliminated from this year’s CONCACAF Champions League back in March. Miami entered at the Round of 16, beating Nashville 5-3 on aggregate. But defeat to Monterrey in the quarter finals brought a swift end to the franchise’s debut in the competition.

Possible final to determine US Club World Cup entrants

FIFA has not yet determined who will be awarded United States’ slot at next summer’s Club World Cup, whether it is the MLS Cup champions or the Supporters’ Shield winners. In the United States, the discussion is going even further. One of the suggestions includes holding a final between the two champions (or MLS Cup runner-up) although finding a date in a packed calendar for that to happen could be tricky.

The 2024 MLS season reaches its conclusion on 7 December and while the dates of the 2025 regular season have yet to be announced, the next campaign will probably start late February.

The 2025 Club World Cup will start on Sunday 15 June 2025 and continues up to the final on Sunday 13 July 2025. The 30 qualified teams include: Real Madrid, Atlético, Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern, Dortmund, PSG, Juve, Inter, Porto, Benfica, Salzburg, Al Hilal, Al Ain, Urawa, Ulsan, Al Ahly, Wydad, Esperance, Mamelodi, León, Rayados, Pachuca, Seattle, Palmeiras, Fluminense, Flamengo, Boca Juniors, River Plate and Auckland.

For now, Inter Miami coach is taking it all in his stride until we know more. “Today we started to justify why Inter Miami could go to the Club World Cup. This is what gives me peace of mind,” the Argentine coach said after last night’s win against the Crew. “Inter Miami, based on the names it has, could start to be seen as a viable team to be elected. But it seems much fairer to me that we achieve this through sporting merits and today we have achieved just that”.