Coming to the USA, Summer 2025
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
It is fairly well known at this point that the United States, Mexico, and Canada are set to co-host the Men’s FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2026 with qualifying underway for some continents and host cities having been chosen. This coming summer, the United States will be hosting the first edition of the FIFA Club World Cup since it was decided to expand the tournament to 32 teams from previously only involving 6 teams.
Up until this year, the Club World Cup (CWC) was hosted at the end of December and consisted of 6 teams in total, two teams automatically qualifying for the semifinals and 4 teams starting in the quarter finals for a total of 5 games in the tournament.
(2 QF, 2 SF, 1 Final) These teams qualified for the tournament by winning their respective continental competition the most well-known being the European UEFA Champions League where the winners almost always started the tournament in the Semi-finals.
More and more games to be played
There is conversation in the soccer/football world about how many games players are forced to play, and how soccer is moving away from sport and more into the area of entertainment. At the rate we all consume content, it’s hard to keep up with the appetite but live sports is easy to produce content that usually draws an audience. Netflix for example, just hosted a live night of boxing and Amazon Prime is set to start streaming the NBA in 2025. Even these giants of industry can see that live sports will draw an audience and is relatively easy to produce and is always happening.
Then, we have to discuss the welfare of the players. Players playing for elite teams can play upwards of 50 to 60 games a season. Not only do players play for their clubs throughout the season but they also play for international teams leading them to play nonstop matches every 3-4 days from August to May and now with the Club World Cup will have another set of matches through the peak of summer in the United States.
We all want to see the best and most exciting players play in a given match, but how can they do their best if they are asked to play so constantly. In my opinion, teams and players can manage this with good communication and planning. The English teams that have qualified for the Club World Cup include Chelsea and Manchester City - having each won the UEFA Champions League in the last 4 years. Knowing that this will be an exceptionally long season for them, they have to prioritize and plan strategically. Chelsea have been under scrutiny lately for buying too many players and signing them to 7-8 year contracts, but looking at their squad at the moment you would have to consider them favorites for this tournament.
The Tournament
The tournament itself will consist of 32 teams from all around the world including Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Club Leon of Mexico, Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan, and Al Ahly of Egypt. Games will be played all across the US in cities such as Miami, Philadelphia, Nashville, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
You can find a complete list of teams and fixtures here.
The 32 teams have been confirmed now, with the last teams to qualify being Botafogo of Brazil after winning the South American equivalent of the Champions League and of course Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami somewhat controversially given a spot as the ‘host team’ of the tournament after amassing the most points in MLS this season. Inter Miami won the Supporters Shield for best record in the MLS over the 2024 Season, but didn’t make it to through the MLS Cup Playoffs to the final. This past Saturday the LA Galaxy defeated NY Red Bulls to win their 6th MLS Cup taking them clear of DC United as the club with the most MLS Cups.
The 32 teams have been split into 8 groups of 4 and are set to play three group stage matches each, with the top two teams from each group moving onto the knockout phase. The final for the Club World Cup is set to be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday July 13, 2025. MetLife Stadium will also be the host of the World Cup Final the following summer in July of 2026.
The games that have been set to play at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. are:
Al Ain FC (UAE) vs Juventus (Italy) Wednesday June 18th, 9pm kickoff.
FC Salzburg (Austria) vs. Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) Sunday June 22, 3pm kickoff.
With the next closest games in Philadelphia hosting matches featuring teams such as Chelsea, Manchester City, and Real Madrid as well as hosting the first of the round of 16 matches Saturday June 28 and a Quarter Final Match on Friday the 4th of July.
This summer, FIFA has given the United States the opportunity to not only host an expanded version of the Club World Cup but also a chance to test-run operations as many of these selected stadiums prepare to host matches the following summer for the 2026 World Cup. Washington, D.C. will not be hosting World Cup matches but has been given the chance to host two matches for the tournament this summer.
With all the matches that players are forced to play, it will certainly be interesting to see the quality of play on show especially considering the heat we have seen across the last few summers. As fans, we must come into this tournament with the expectation that we may not get to see our favorite players play and trust that they need to protect themselves amidst the massive calendar of soccer that we see as sports enter the realm of entertainment arguably more so than sport.
We’ll be back next month as we prepare to kick off our winter pre-season preparation ahead of the upcoming Spring season.
Thanks for reading.