2025 FIFA Club World Cup updates: Format, clubs involved, fixtures, and more

Seven confederations, 32 participating clubs, eight groups, 63 matches, and one trophy — the 25th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, set to run from June 15 to July 13, 2025, promises to be a spectacle and marks a historic transition into the newly expanded format of the prestigious competition.

In the absence of international blockbusters like the World Cup, Euros, or Copa America, football fans are often left clinging to transfer sagas—refreshing rumour mills with a hope that never quite matches the buzz of live competition.

2025 fits that familiar pattern, but this year, there’s a new twist.

FIFA are set to roll out the reimagined Club World Cup—a tournament now drawing serious attention from all corners of the game. It features a global cast of elite clubs from Europe, South America, North America, the Middle East, and beyond. Even traditional giants like Real Madrid have adjusted their summer strategies, accelerating signings—such as the high-profile arrival of Trent Alexander-Arnold—in preparation for what they view as a serious piece of silverware.

With anticipation building ahead of this expanded edition, the revamped tournament promises to be more than just a summer filler—it’s poised to become a defining fixture in the football calendar with FIFA Club World Cup tickets now attracting huge interest.

In this article, Football Talk previews the newly introduced format, participating teams, schedules, and more.

How does the new format work?

This summer’s Club World Cup will mirror the classic World Cup group format used from 1998 to 2022, with 32 clubs drawn into eight groups of four. Each team will face their three group opponents once, earning three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. The two highest-ranked teams from each group will progress to the knockout rounds, while the other two will exit the competition.

Should teams finish level on points in the group standings, positions will first be settled by head-to-head results among the tied sides—not goal difference as seen at the World Cup. If that fails to break the deadlock, further head-to-head criteria and broader group-based tiebreakers will be used. If all else fails, lots will be drawn.

The knockout phase begins with the round of 16 and continues through quarter-finals, semi-finals, and a final. Each knockout tie is a single-elimination match—no home and away legs. If teams are level after 90 minutes, two 15-minute halves of extra time will follow. If the deadlock persists, penalties will decide the victor.

Unlike its international counterpart, the Club World Cup won’t include a third-place match between the losing semi-finalists.

Participating teams

A total of 32 clubs will compete in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, with representation spanning all six continental confederations. UEFA leads the way with 12 participants from Europe, followed by six clubs from South America’s CONMEBOL. Four teams each will come from the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), and Concacaf (North America), while Oceania (OFC) will contribute one.

Brazil dominates in terms of diversity, with four different clubs—Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Palmeiras—qualifying for the tournament. The United States is the only other nation sending more than two teams, as Inter Miami, Los Angeles FC, and Seattle Sounders all take part.

Europe’s dozen representatives were selected based on UEFA Champions League performance across four seasons (2020/21 to 2023/24). That means recent champions Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Manchester City are joined by consistently high-performing teams such as Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and Inter Milan, who earned their spots through UEFA’s coefficient rankings.

In Asia, Africa, and North America, confederations have awarded places to the four top-performing clubs in each region’s Champions League equivalents. South America’s six entries were determined via Copa Libertadores success.

Oceania sends just one representative: the most successful club from the last four editions of the OFC Champions League. As hosts, the United States automatically gained one place—secured by Inter Miami, who topped the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield standings.

Some of world football’s biggest names are set to appear. Lionel Messi, already a three-time Club World Cup winner (2009, 2011, 2015), headlines a star-studded lineup alongside Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé. Cristiano Ronaldo, however, will be absent—his club, Al Nassr, missed out as only Al Hilal advanced from Saudi Arabia.

Also among the qualified is 17-time Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg, who will compete under the name FC Salzburg due to FIFA’s commercial regulations prohibiting sponsor branding.

Here are the participating teams and their respective groups for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

• Group A: Palmeiras, FC Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami
• Group B: Paris St-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders
• Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica
• Group D: Flamengo, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Chelsea, Los Angeles FC
• Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Inter Milan
• Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns
• Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus
• Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg

How are the knockout stages decided?

Once the group stage concludes, the remaining 16 clubs will be split into two brackets—each featuring four group winners and four runners-up. These brackets determine the path each team will take toward the final.

In the round of 16, every group winner will face a runner-up from a different group. For instance, the top team from Group A will go up against the second-placed team from Group B, while the Group B winner faces the Group A runner-up. The exact format applies across Groups C and D, E and F, and G and H.

Winners from these eight fixtures will move on to the quarter-finals, where they will meet another team from their side of the draw. The winners of those matches then progress to the semi-finals, with a place in the final on the line. Each knockout round is a single-elimination tie—win, and you advance; lose, and your tournament ends.

Can clubs from the same confederation or country face off?

During the group stage, teams from the same non-European confederations are intentionally kept apart, ensuring no intra-confederation matchups outside UEFA.

However, four of the eight groups feature two UEFA representatives, leading to a few high-profile early encounters, such as Paris Saint-Germain facing Atletico Madrid, Benfica clashing with Bayern Munich, Juventus taking on Manchester City, and Red Bull Salzburg squaring off against Real Madrid.

Once the tournament moves into the knockout rounds, restrictions are lifted. Clubs can be drawn against opponents from any confederation, including their own.

While clubs from the same nation are barred from facing each other in the group phase, there is no such limitation in the knockouts—they’re free to meet at any stage from the round of 16 onwards.

Prize money

In addition to the expanded number of clubs taking part, the prize fund for the revamped tournament will also see a dramatic increase, with FIFA officially announcing a total pool of $1 billion (£777m).

This substantial sum will be divided among all 32 participating sides. A participation fee worth £406m ($525m) will be allocated according to both sporting merit and commercial factors.

FIFA has also pledged not to retain any portion of the revenue, and an additional £200m ($250m) is set to be distributed to clubs globally in the form of solidarity payments.

The sheer scale of this prize pot marks a massive leap from the rewards previously on offer, which is fitting given the increase in the number of competitors and the heightened stature of the tournament.

Winners of the inaugural 32-team FIFA Club World Cup in the United States stand to claim a record-breaking $125m. FIFA confirmed $525m in participation fees is assured for the teams competing from 14 June to 13 July, with amounts spanning from $38.19m for the highest-ranked European club—widely expected to be Real Madrid—down to $3.58m for Auckland City, representing Oceania.

An additional $475m is performance-based, with financial rewards tied to outcomes across the tournament’s 63 fixtures. Group-stage victories will yield $2m apiece, appearances in the Round of 16 secure $7.5m, and the champions at MetLife Stadium near New York will receive a $40m payout.

All 12 European participants will be granted a minimum of $12.81m as an entry sum. According to FIFA, allocation of funds will depend on a ranking derived from both commercial and sporting metrics, though further clarification was not provided.

Each of the six South American clubs is set to receive $15.21m for participating, while sides from Asia, Africa, and the CONCACAF region—including Inter Miami, who qualified despite not winning the MLS title—will collect $9.55m apiece.

FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Schedule

The United States will play host to the entire 2025 FIFA Club World Cup—serving as a major dress rehearsal one year before the nation co-hosts the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

On September 28, 2024, FIFA confirmed the 12 venues that will stage matches during the tournament. Among them, five are also set to be featured in the 2026 World Cup.

The lineup includes iconic and modern arenas across the country: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida), Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, North Carolina), and Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Others include TQL Stadium (Cincinnati), Geodis Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium and Inter&Co Stadium (both in Orlando), the Rose Bowl (Pasadena), Lumen Field (Seattle), and Audi Field (Washington D.C.).

This summer’s competition opens on June 14, when Inter Miami, representing the host nation, face African heavyweights Al Ahly in the tournament’s first game—scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET(01:00 AM GMT) start at Hard Rock Stadium. Fans can buy Al Ahly SC vs Inter Miami tickets from FIFA or reputable resellers such as Seatsnet.com.

The group phase, featuring 32 clubs split into eight sections of four, begins after the opener and continues through to June 26, comprising 48 fixtures in total. The leading two sides from every group progress to the Round of 16, which is set for June 28 through July 1.

Subsequent rounds include quarter-final and semi-final clashes, with the campaign concluding in the final—staged on July 14 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.