FIFA Club World Cup 2025

[Runub]

Yet another skid mark on the name of football.

A competition that nobody… Fans, players, managers, clubs, general public… nobody at all wants.

As it is in the US i imagine many of the games will be in the middle of the night. I can’t see many Europeans tuning in to watch

 

[Drico]

Why would Europeans bother? We already have the best of the best in the Champions League. Because of the globalisation of football, even South America, with all its marvelous tradition and culture, is denuded of its best players as they take the economic high road to Europe.

This is a Frankenstein's monster of a tournament, with a geriatric Messi, South American feeder clubs, and a few Arabs to give the Middle East bang for its buck. It has zero footballing merit. I hope they exhaust the players of the top Euro clubs.

Nasty human rights abusing Infantino and the Saudi kleptocrats are pushing for this. And, of course, the impoverished.

It's actually more an indictment of Europe's hoaring of footballing wealth more than anything. A World Cup for national teams has obvious merit - the top South American players can play for their countries, so this gets neatly around the European plundering of talent. But clubs? Nah, a pointless kleptocratic joke.

 

[Billy Dean]

[

Maybe? It didn’t seem like anyone was in a big rush to get a TV deal done with FIFA, not that South American TV is where FIFA’s focus would be.

I wouldn’t know anything about TV deals but the club world championship is a big deal for South American clubs. Always has been.

 

[carolinablue232]

FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group stage draw took place yesterday.

Group A: Palmeiras (BRA), Porto (POR), Al Ahly (EGY), Inter Miami (USA)
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Atlético (ESP), Botafogo (BRA), Seattle Sounders (USA)
Group C: Bayern (GER), Auckland City (NZL), Boca Juniors (ARG), Benfica (POR)
Group D: Flamengo (BRA), Espérance (TUN), Chelsea (ENG), Club León (MEX)
Group E: River Plate (ARG), Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN), Monterrey (MEX), Inter (ITA)
Group F: Fluminense (BRA), Borussia Dortmund (GER), Ulsan (KOR), Mamelodi Sundowns (RSA)
Group G: Manchester City (ENG), Wydad (MAR), Al Ain (UAE), Juventus (ITA)
Group H: Real Madrid (ESP), Al Hilal (KSA), Pachuca (MEX), Salzburg (AUT)

I still think this is a useless competition that will only further burden the international football calendar. But with the ties now on the table, I have to say that I'd love to watch games like Bayern vs Boca Juniors or Atlético vs Botafogo. The competition will take place next summer in the USA.

Does this seem exciting to you? Or is this just a stupid FIFA's idea to get some revenue regardless of what the clubs and the fans want?

View attachment 284889

It’s only exciting if the big clubs actually take it seriously. If clubs like city just send their reserves it’s nothing more than a bunch of exhibitions. Personally, I love the concept. Just don’t think the big teams will care enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[Rook]

lol group stages

WTF is Chelsea doing there?

 

[Billy Dean]

lol group stages

WTF is Chelsea doing there?

I think the qualification period is 2021-24 and they won the CL in 2021

 

[BlueStevie35]

lol group stages

WTF is Chelsea doing there?

They won the CL 3 years ago and still have a strong coefficient number despite playing in the other competitions

 

[Rook]

They won the CL 3 years ago and still have a strong coefficient number despite playing in the other competitions

what is the Seattle sounders coefficient?

 

[BlueStevie35]

what is the Seattle sounders coefficient?

CONCACAF Champions League winners 2 years ago

 

[Billy Dean]

what is the Seattle sounders coefficient?

It’s confederations champions league winners along with those with high 3-year coefficients in their confederations. That’s the main qualification criteria, the only other being having Messi in your team

 

[Eugene Ravdin]

Who qualifies for this and how?

I thought it was the winners of the European runners up league, versus the equivalent from other continents but it seems there's a fair number of European teams there.

I'm guessing tv money amd advertising is behind bigging it up/diluting the gravitas, as per.

In a nutshell:

CONMEBOL (6) and UEFA (12): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024. Additional teams determined by a club ranking of the four-year period.
AFC (4), CAF (4), CONCACAF (4): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
OFC (1): Highest-ranked club among the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
Host country (1): Inter Miami as the best team of the 2024 MLS regular season

• If a club wins two or more seasons of its confederation's top club competition, additional teams are determined by a club ranking over the four-year period.

• A restriction of two clubs per association is applied, with the exception of champion clubs if more than two clubs from the same association win their confederation's top club competition.

 

[Eugene Ravdin]

For fun, I've compiled a full list of the names the competition has been called in this thread (in order of appearance).

FIFA Club World Cup 2025 is...
a) embarrassing
b) a joke
c) a joke with real consequences for the game people love
d) WTF IS THIS
e) a good idea in principle
f) better than pre-season friendlies in terms of entrainment
g) a waste of time
h) bago’shyte
i) yet another skid mark on the name of football
j) a competition that nobody… nobody at all wants

My favourites are h) and i).

 

[Billy Dean]

In a nutshell:

CONMEBOL (6) and UEFA (12): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024. Additional teams determined by a club ranking of the four-year period.
AFC (4), CAF (4), CONCACAF (4): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
OFC (1): Highest-ranked club among the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
Host country (1): Inter Miami as the best team of the 2024 MLS regular season

• If a club wins two or more seasons of its confederation's top club competition, additional teams are determined by a club ranking over the four-year period.

• A restriction of two clubs per association is applied, with the exception of champion clubs if more than two clubs from the same association win their confederation's top club competition.

Curious to see if that host country place remains the same for the next version of this. I highly doubt it. They just wanted to shoehorn Messi in.

 

[Eugene Ravdin]

Curious to see if that host country place remains the same for the next version of this. I highly doubt it. They just wanted to shoehorn Messi in.

No doubts.

 

[chrismpw]

In a nutshell:

CONMEBOL (6) and UEFA (12): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024. Additional teams determined by a club ranking of the four-year period.
AFC (4), CAF (4), CONCACAF (4): Winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
OFC (1): Highest-ranked club among the winners of the confederation's top club competition between 2021 and 2024.
Host country (1): Inter Miami as the best team of the 2024 MLS regular season

• If a club wins two or more seasons of its confederation's top club competition, additional teams are determined by a club ranking over the four-year period.

• A restriction of two clubs per association is applied, with the exception of champion clubs if more than two clubs from the same association win their confederation's top club competition.

Oh, as straightforward as that eh?