CLUB WORLD CUP
Champions League dogfight between Barça and Atleti for final CWC 2025 place
One Spanish team will join Real Madrid at the expanded 2025 Club World Cup as Atleti and Barça dispute the final spot.
Along with an expanded 48 team World Cup in 2026, FIFA have also announced that first edition of the newly revamped Club World Cup will be staged in the United States in 2025 and is set to feature 32 teams with matches set to be played between 15 June and 13 July.
The newly named Mundial de Clubes FIFA will feature clubs from each of the six confederations and will include a combination of each confederation’s club champions from the previous four seasons as well as teams that rank the highest in their continental rankings.
FIFA are set to use the competition and the forthcoming 2024 Copa America as testing grounds ahead of the 2026 expanded World Cup which is set to be staged in Mexico, Canada and the US.
19 teams qualified
Al Ahly (Egypt): 2020-21 & 2022-23 CAF Champions League
Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia): 2021 AFC Champions League
Auckland City (New Zealand) : Ranking pathway (Oceania)
CF Monterrey (Mexico): 2021 Concacaf Champions Cup
Chelsea (England): 2020-21 UEFA Champions League
Club León (Mexico): 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup
Bayern Munich (Germany): Ranking pathway (UEFA)
FC Porto (Portugal): Ranking pathway (UEFA)
Flamengo (Brazil): 2022 Copa Libertadores
Fluminense (Brazil): 2023 Copa Libertadores
Inter Milan (Italy): Ranking pathway (UEFA)
Manchester City (England): 2022-23 UEFA Champions League
Palmeiras (Brazil): 2021 Copa Libertadores
Paris Saint-Germain (France): Ranking pathway (UEFA)
Real Madrid (Spain): 2021-22 UEFA Champions League
Seattle Sounders (USA): 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup
Benfica (Portugal): Ranking pathway (UEFA)
Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan): 2022 AFC Champions League
Wydad Casablanca (Morocco): 2021-22 CAF Champions League
Battle for final Spanish place
As things stand, one club from LaLiga in Real Madrid has already secured a place at the new tournament by virtue of winning the 2022 UCL. The winner of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League will also automatically secure a place at the competition in the US next year with Real Sociedad, FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid still in the final 16 of the competition.
Spain will also get another place at the competition and this will be based upon UEFA club coefficient ranking and as things stand Stateside Cules will be disappointed to hear that Xavi’s men trail the Metropolitano based club currently. Atletico currently have 62,000 UEFA points and Barça need Atleti to lose to Inter in the Round of 16 and hope that the Catalan side advance against Napoli in the second leg.
If the ‘rojiblancos’ draw against Inter in Madrid, they would force the ‘culés’ to win the two quarter-final games. And if Atlético were to come from behind against the Nerazzurri and go through to the quarter-finals, Barça would have to reach the semi-finals by winning both quarter-final games and drawing one of the semis, with Atlético losing both quarter-final games. In other words, everything points to Cholo Simeone’s men taking their place at the first ever edition of the Mundial de Clubes FIFA.