FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Teams, full schedule, prize money, how to stream

The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 kicks disconnected successful the United States connected Saturday, with 32 teams vying for the rubric successful the new-look expanded intercontinental nine competition.

Here’s everything you request to cognize astir the tournament:

What is the FIFA Club World Cup?

Until 2023, the FIFA Club World Cup was staged arsenic an yearly tourney each December and information was constricted to the winners of the continental nine competitions, with the fig ranging betwixt six to 8 clubs.

Starting successful 2025, football’s governing assemblage expanded the tourney to 32 teams and decided to tally the revamped contention connected a quadrennial rhythm instead, akin to its showpiece FIFA World Cup.

A caller FIFA Intercontinental Cup replaced the aged Club World Cup arsenic an yearly contention successful December 2024 with Real Madrid winning the inaugural variation held successful Qatar.

How does the caller Club World Cup work?

Historically, the Club World Cup has featured nary much than 8 teams, but the 2025 variation is vastly different.

This year’s variation connected US ungraded volition beryllium the archetypal successful the tournament’s 24-year past to diagnostic 32 clubs – the aforesaid fig of teams arsenic caller FIFA World Cups – including the winners of the 4 erstwhile continental championships.

The teams volition beryllium divided into 8 groups of 4 competing successful a round-robin radical signifier with the apical 2 clubs from each radical advancing to the knockouts, which statesman with the circular of 16 and extremity with the final.

When is the FIFA Club World Cup?

The contention volition statesman connected June 14, with the last scheduled for July 13. Here’s a breakdown of the schedule.

• Group stage: June 14 to 26
• Round of 16: June 28 to July 1
• Quarterfinals: July 4 and 5
• Semifinals: July 8 and 9
• Final: July 13

Which teams volition enactment successful the Club World Cup?

“Soccer” fans successful the US volition person the accidental to ticker immoderate of the astir fashionable clubs, including past season’s UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid, Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, 10-time English champions Manchester City and Italian heavyweights Inter Milan.

Qualified teams were determined by the winners of the continental nine competitions, specified arsenic the Champions League, and the confederation’s four-year rankings.

Outside of Europe, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is besides portion of the tournament, having controversially earned a spot arsenic a typical of the big nation. Inter Miami won the Supporters’ Shield, handed to the squad with the champion regular-season record.

Lionel Messi, who has been playing domestically successful the United States since 2023, volition beryllium nether the spotlight arsenic helium takes portion successful the Club World Cup  [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP]

Of the 32 clubs, Europe (UEFA) is the best-represented confederation with 12 teams, followed by South America (CONMEBOL) with six. Asia (AFC), Africa (AFC) and North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) person 4 teams each.

Oceania is represented by 1 club, portion the last slot has been allocated to the big nation’s representative, Inter Miami.

Mexican nine Leon had qualified by winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup successful 2023, but were removed by FIFA owed to an ownership regularisation breach. FIFA said that Club Leon and different Mexican nine successful the tournament, Pachuca, did not conscionable regulations connected multi-club ownership. Pachuca’s spot successful the contention was unaffected.

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Leon’s appeal, FIFA confirmed a playoff betwixt Los Angeles FC and Mexican broadside Club America that was won by LAFC.

Here is simply a database of the 8 groups:

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

LAFC was the 32nd and last qualifier for the FIFA Club World Cup aft defeating Club America successful other clip during a playoff lucifer connected May 31 [Gary A Vasquez/Imagn Images via Reuters]

Why are Chelsea, Inter Miami in, and Barcelona, Liverpool retired of the FIFA Club World Cup?

FIFA rules for the Club World Cup authorities that lone 2 teams from each state tin play successful the tournament, and European clubs’ information was decided by their performances successful the Champions League implicit the past 4 seasons.

Man City (2023) and Chelsea (2021) won the Champions League during that four-year window, taking up the 2 spots.

Other fashionable clubs specified arsenic Napoli, AC Milan, Barcelona, RB Leipzig and Sevilla besides missed retired owed to UEFA’s four-year nine coefficient rankings and two-team restrictions.

Where are the Club World Cup venues?

The 63 matches volition beryllium played crossed 12 venues successful 11 cities. The opening match, Al Ahly vs Inter Miami, volition beryllium played astatine the Hard Rock Stadium successful Miami, which has a spectator capableness of 65,000.

The MetLife Stadium, which serves arsenic the location for the New York Giants and New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL), volition big some the semifinals and the final. MetLife is an 82,500-seat venue and was besides chosen arsenic the venue of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, champion known arsenic a assemblage American shot venue, is the biggest stadium with a capableness of 88,500. It is nary alien to hosting large events: the Rose Bowl was the tract for the shot golden medal lucifer astatine the Los Angeles Games successful 1984, arsenic good arsenic the men’s World Cup last a decennary later. It volition besides beryllium a venue for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.

Here’s the afloat database of venues:

• MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
• Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, Florida)
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington)
• Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles, California)
• GEODIS Park (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
• Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
• Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
• Audi Field (Washington, DC)

Will Messi and Ronaldo play successful the FIFA Club World Cup?

Messi will, acknowledgment to Inter Miami’s astonishment qualification.

Messi’s nine recovered a spot arsenic the nine with the astir points successful Major League Soccer’s (MLS) regular season, alternatively of LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup, which is regarded arsenic the highest prize successful the MLS.

FIFA announced Miami’s summation to the Club World Cup successful October aft they broke MLS’s regular-season points grounds with a 6-2 triumph implicit New England Revolution to scope 74 points. New England had acceptable the erstwhile grounds successful 2021 with 73 points.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo and his Saudi Arabian nine Al Nassr did not suffice for the tournament, but it didn’t halt FIFA President Gianni Infantino from suggesting that the Portugal prima could power to 1 of the teams participating successful the tournament.

“Cristiano Ronaldo mightiness play successful the Club World Cup,” Infantino told online streamer IShowSpeed successful precocious May. “There are discussions with immoderate clubs, truthful if immoderate nine is watching and is funny successful hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup, who knows? Still, a fewer weeks’ time, volition beryllium fun.”

However, Ronaldo cleared his presumption by saying, “You can’t instrumentality portion successful everything.”

“You person to deliberation astir the short, mean and agelong term. It’s a determination practically made connected my portion not to spell to the Club World Cup, but I’ve had rather a fewer invitations to go.”

How overmuch is the prize wealth for the Club World Cup?

The full prize cookware is $1bn, with the champions earning up to $125m.

About fractional of the $1bn volition beryllium divided betwixt the 32 clubs, with the magnitude per nine based connected sporting and commercialized criteria. It means that clubs specified arsenic Manchester City and Real Madrid volition person a greater percent than smaller clubs successful a exemplary FIFA developed with the European Club Association.

A further $475m volition beryllium awarded connected a performance-related basis. Hence, the squad with the astir wins implicit a imaginable 7 matches volition slope much cash, with a maximum cookware of $125m available.

How to travel and watercourse the Club World Cup live

Al Jazeera Sport volition tally a live photograph and substance commentary stream for a enactment of the biggest radical signifier and knockout games.

Online supplier DAZN volition watercourse the tourney worldwide, with territorial sublicensing to section free-to-air linear broadcast networks a possibility.