Sports

2025 FIFA Club World Cup

Mariana Varkholiak, Staff Reporter • June 2, 2025

What is the FIFA Club World Cup?

This is a picture of the FIFA Club World Cup trophy. It features intricate inscriptions on both sides, including a world map and the names of all 211 FIFA member associations. This is the new design of the trophy and it’s going to be used for the first time this year. (Marco Bello)

The FIFA Club World Cup is an international club soccer tournament organized by FIFA. It features 32 of the most successful club teams from around the world.It was founded in the year 2000, in Brazil. There have been 20 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup. The competition was first held in 2000 and then again in 2005. The 2023 edition was the most recent one, and the next edition is planned for this year with an expanded format.

What is the Purpose of the Club World Cup?

The purpose of the FIFA Club World Cup is to find out which club team is the best in the world. It brings together the champion teams from different continents, like Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and others. These teams play against each other in one tournament. The goal is to not just see who is the strongest but also to help soccer grow in more countries. By letting more teams from all around the world participate, the tournament becomes more fair and exciting. It also helps fans from smaller countries see their teams play against big clubs. This makes soccer more popular everywhere versus just in a few places. This tournament allows many teams to earn money for their future transfers, which helps the small teams from different countries grow bigger.

New Format

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will follow a new format with 32 teams taking part for the first time. It will take place in the United States from June 15 to July 13. This tournament will be held every four years, similar to the national team FIFA World Cup. Clubs will qualify based on how well they performed in continental competitions like the UEFA Champions League or Copa Libertadores. The 32 teams will be split into 8 groups of 4. The best 2 teams from each group will move on to the knockout rounds. The goal of this new format is to make the tournament larger and more exciting for fans worldwide.

Host Cities

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be played in 11 cities across the United States. Some of the big cities include Atlanta, Miami, Los

Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. The games will take place in large, famous stadiums, such as MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and the Rose Bowl in California. Other cities like Charlotte, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Orlando will also host matches. These stadiums were picked because they are big, modern, and great for soccer. Each city will bring its own fans and excitement, making the tournament special for people watching around the world.

Participating teams

There are a total of 32 teams participating in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. The teams were chosen from 6 confederations:

From UEFA (Europe), 12 clubs will take part, including the winners and runners-up of top European tournaments. CONMEBOL (South America) will send 6 teams, made up of Copa Libertadores champions and runners-up. CONCACAF (North and Central America) will have 4 teams, including the winners and runners-up of the Concacaf Champions League plus the host team, Inter Miami. The AFC (Asia) will be represented by 4 teams, which include champions and runners-up from the AFC Champions League. CAF (Africa) will also have 4 clubs, with spots going to the champions and runners-up of the CAF Champions League. Finally, the OFC (Oceania) will send 1 team, which is the champion of the Oceania Champions League.

The draw for the 2025 Club World Cup took place in December 2024, and the teams were divided into eight groups of four.

This is the list of the teams that are going to participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Only two teams from each group will advance to the Round of 16.

Conclusion

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be a very big and exciting soccer tournament. It will bring the best teams from around the world to play in the United States. With more teams and many famous cities hosting the games, fans will see great soccer and get to cheer for their favorite clubs. The new format will help small teams grow and make soccer more fun for everyone. It will be a special event for fans everywhere to enjoy.

Work Cited

Johnson, D. (n.d.). FIFA Club World Cup: Format, draw, teams, schedule … Messi. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41959489/fifa-club-world-cup-format-schedule-why-lionel-messi-playing
Middleton, E. (2025, April 7). Club World Cup explained: Teams, format, prize money, draw, schedule revealed. BBC Sport. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c9835np3205o
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 TM. (n.d.). https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/club-world-cup/usa-2025

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About the Contributor

Mariana Varkholiak, Staff Reporter

Hi! My name is Mariana Varkholiak and I am a freshman at EPHS. I really like playing different sports but my main sport is soccer. In the future I plan to go to a university and play soccer professionally.