FIFA Club World Cup
Why are RB Salzburg playing in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
Real Madrid and Manchester City are among the high-profile European names in Thursday’s draw, but Salzburg’s participation is somewhat more surprising.
The draw for the ‘new and improved’ 2025 FIFA Club World Cup takes place on Thursday (December 5), with 32 teams to contest the inaugural event in the United States between June 15 and July 13 next year. While few will be shocked to see Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich among the European participants, RB Salzburg’s qualification may have caught some by surprise.
Owned by energy drinks company Red Bull, the club has won 14 of the last 18 league titles in Austria, which includes 10 in a row between 2013/14 and 2022/23. Last season, they surprisingly finished second to Sturm Graz, who they are playing alongside in the league phase of the 2024/25 Champions League.
Despite their domestic domination, their European record is nothing to write home about, yet it has still been enough for them to qualify for the upcoming Club World Cup.
How did teams qualify for the 2025 Club World Cup?
Qualification for the tournament varies by confederation (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC, OFC), although clubs either qualified by winning their confederation’s top club competition or due to their ranking within their confederation over the previous four-year period.
Europe provides 12 of the 32 participants, four of which are the winners of the four most recent Champions Leagues (between 2020/21 and 2023/24), while the other eight, in theory, come from the UEFA club rankings. However, because Real Madrid won the Champions League twice in that time, a ninth European club qualified based on their ranking.
Also important to note is that no more than two clubs from the same country are permitted, unless more than two clubs from that country won the Champions League in the last four years (which didn’t happen).
How did RB Salzburg qualify for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
Salzburg clearly didn’t win the Champions League in any of the last four seasons, which means they qualified due to their club ranking. That despite only reaching the UCL round of 16 once and twice dropping down into the Europa League, where they fell at the first hurdle both times.
The Austrians are the main beneficiaries from Madrid’s two Champions League wins and the two-clubs-per country rule. Salzburg were 18th in the rankings at the end of 2023/24 but the teams above them had either already qualified for the Club World Cup or were from a country that had already provided two qualifiers.
Liverpool, RB Leipzig, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and AC Milan were all ahead of Salzburg in the rankings but had their route into the tournament blocked by the qualification of two other teams from their own countries.
The Austrian club will therefore will be taking part in the tournament in the US as the ninth and last UEFA qualifier as a result of their club ranking.
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