2025 FIFA Club World Cup

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, also marketed as FIFA Club World Cup 25, was the 21st edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, an international club soccer competition organized by FIFA. This was also the first edition under the new expanded format. The tournament was held in the United States from June 14 to July 13, 2025, and featured 32 teams. The expanded format included the continental champions from the past four years as well as additional qualified teams. Chelsea won the tournament, defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 in the final and becoming the inaugural world champions under the expanded format.

The revised structure was modeled more closely on the FIFA World Cup as a quadrennial world championship, replacing the annual seven-team format used between 2000 and 2023. It featured the winners of each continent's top club competition from 2021 to 2024, except for a single entry from Oceania. Additional slots were awarded to clubs from Europe and South America based on rankings across the same four-year period. Manchester City, who won the final edition under the previous format in 2023, entered as the technical title holders but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Al-Hilal.

FIFA first announced the expanded format in March 2019, originally selecting China to host the inaugural edition in 2021. This was later postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2023, FIFA confirmed the allocation of qualification slots among confederations, and four months later announced the United States as the new host nation. Alongside this expansion, FIFA also introduced the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, an annual tournament based on the previous Club World Cup format.

The expansion of the tournament drew varied responses, with some concerns raised by the players' union FIFPRO and the World Leagues Forum regarding potential effects on fixture schedules and player welfare. Ticket sales were managed using dynamic pricing, which was later adjusted for several matches to boost attendance. International broadcasting rights were secured by streaming service DAZN, which sublicensed coverage to other networks. A total of $1 billion in prize money was distributed among the 32 clubs, including solidarity payments and allocations by confederation.

It was the first major FIFA tournament since the 1978 FIFA World Cup not to feature a penalty shootout.

Background and format

Since its return from hiatus in 2005, the FIFA Club World Cup had been held annually in December and was limited to the winners of continental club competitions. As early as late 2016, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested expanding the Club World Cup to 32 teams beginning in 2019 and rescheduling it to June/July to be more balanced and attractive to broadcasters and sponsors. In late 2017, FIFA discussed proposals to expand the competition to 24 teams and have it be played every four years starting in 2021, replacing the FIFA Confederations Cup. The expanded format and schedule of Club World Cup, to be played in June and July 2021, was confirmed at the March 2019 FIFA Council meeting in Miami. China was appointed as host in October 2019, but the 2021 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 23, 2023, FIFA confirmed that the United States would host the 2025 tournament as a prelude to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 32 teams were divided into eight groups of four teams, with the top two teams in each group qualifying to the knockout stage. However, the only difference from the format used in the FIFA World Cup between 1998 and 2022 was that there was no third place playoff.

In January 2024, it was reported that the tournament would mainly take place on the East Coast to be closer to European broadcasters and viewers while also avoiding conflicts with the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, which also took place primarily in the United States around the same time, but mainly in the Western part of the country.

Trophy

FIFA unveiled a newly designed trophy created by Tiffany & Co. for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Made from pure 24-karat gold, the trophy's design drew inspiration from pioneering maps, the periodic table, astronomy, and the Voyager Golden Record. It featured laser-engraved details including a world map, the names of all 211 FIFA member associations, descriptions of football, and inscriptions in 13 languages, including braille. The trophy weighs approximately 5 kilograms (11 lb) and is valued between €200,000 or US$230,000. The original trophy was kept by United States president Donald Trump in the Oval Office, while an identical replica was awarded to Chelsea, the first winners of the expanded tournament.

Slot allocation

On February 14, 2023, the FIFA Council approved the slot allocation for the 2025 tournament based on a "set of objective metrics and criteria". UEFA was awarded the most slots with twelve, while CONMEBOL was given the second most with six. The AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF were all given four slots, while the OFC and the host association were given one slot each. On March 14, 2023, the FIFA Council approved the key principles of the access list for the tournament. The principles were as follows, considering competitions completed during a four-year period from 2021 to 2024:

• CONMEBOL and UEFA (more than four slots): access for the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024, with additional teams to be determined by a club ranking of the four-year period.
• AFC, CAF, and CONCACAF (four slots each): access for the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
• OFC (one slot): access for the highest-ranked club among the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
• Host country (one slot): this was determined at a later stage.

If a club won two or more seasons of its confederation's top club competition, additional teams determined club rankings over the four-year period. Furthermore, a restriction of two clubs per association was applied, with the exception of champion clubs if more than two clubs from the same association won their confederation's top club competition. The calculation method for the four-year club rankings within each confederation was based on the teams' performance in their respective continental tournaments during seasons completed between 2021 and 2024.

For confederations other than UEFA, the method was as follows:

• 3 points for a win
• 1 point for a draw
• 3 points for successful progression to each new stage of the competition

In the case of UEFA, due to the existence of the well-established UEFA club coefficient system, the method used by UEFA to calculate the club coefficient was "exceptionally applied" to rank the European teams.

Teams

Qualification

The following teams qualified for the tournament:

Draw

The draw was held on December 5, 2024, 1:00 p.m. EST, at the headquarters of television broadcaster Telemundo in the Miami suburb of Doral, Florida. The ceremony was led by Alessandro Del Piero at the Telemundo headquarters. FIFA announced the draw procedure and seeding pots two days prior to the draw, taking into consideration sporting and geographical factors as far as possible.

FIFA compiled the draw pots as follows, with teams ranked within each confederation based on FIFA's club ranking system:

• Pot 1: The four top-ranked teams from both UEFA and CONMEBOL
• Pot 2: The remaining eight teams from UEFA
• Pot 3: The two top-ranked teams from each of AFC, CAF and CONCACAF, and the remaining two teams from CONMEBOL
• Pot 4: The remaining teams from AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, OFC and host country

In the draw, teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group except for UEFA teams, for which there was at least one and no more than two per group. Additionally, no two UEFA teams from the same national association could be drawn into the same group.

To maintain competitive balance, two separate pathways of four groups were established for the knockout stage. They were composed as follows:

• Pathway 1: Winners of Groups A, C, E and G, paired with the runners-up of Groups B, D, F and H
• Pathway 2: Winners of Groups B, D, F and H, paired with the runners-up of Groups A, C, E and G

Given these pathways, UEFA and CONMEBOL teams faced the following constraints in the draw:

• UEFA teams ranked 1–2 and CONMEBOL teams ranked 1–2 were allocated to separate pathways, prevented from meeting until the semifinals should they win their groups
• UEFA teams ranked 3–4 and CONMEBOL teams ranked 3–4 were allocated to separate pathways, prevented from meeting until the semifinals should they win their groups
• UEFA teams ranked 1–4 were drawn into groups that would prevent them meeting until the semifinals should they win their groups
• CONMEBOL teams ranked 1–4 were drawn into groups that would prevent them meeting until the semifinals should they win their groups
• UEFA teams ranked 5–8 were drawn into groups with CONMEBOL teams ranked 1–4
• UEFA teams ranked 9–12 were drawn into groups with UEFA teams ranked 1–4

As teams from the host country and for scheduling purposes, Inter Miami CF and Seattle Sounders FC were drawn into position 4 of Groups A and B, respectively. Consequently, teams drawn into Groups A and B were allocated to the position corresponding to their draw pot.