Evening Standard
·4 December 2024
Evening Standard
·4 December 2024
Chelsea and Manchester City as the Premier League representatives
The revamped Club World Cup takes shape this week with the group stage draw ahead of the inaugural tournament next summer.
FIFA has given the tournament a new format to boost its profile, expanding the number of teams from seven to 33 and the length from a couple of weeks in December to a month-long event in the summer across the United States.
Participating teams will come from the six confederations; UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC and OFC.
There will be 12 European teams, six South American teams, five from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, four African and Asian teams apiece and one from Oceania.
Manchester City and Chelsea are the two teams from England involved, while the likes of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and, outside Europe, Inter Miami and Boca Juniors will also be competing.
The group stage draw for the 2025 Club World Cup is on Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 6pm GMT.
It will be held in Miami, Florida.
The full draw will be broadcast for free across FIFA's channels, including the website and FIFA+, FIFA's streaming service.
You can also follow the draw with Standard Sport’s dedicated LIVE blog!
The 32 teams have been split into four pots of eight, with rankings based on performances in each continent's top-tier competition across the previous four seasons.
For example, European teams will be judged on their Champions League performances and CONMEBOL teams on their Copa Libertadores displays
Pot 1 consists of the best European and South American teams, Pot 2 is the remaining European teams, Pot 3 is the two best from the remaining confederations and Pot 4 is the remainder and the sole Oceania Football Confederation representative.
The draw will create four groups of eight teams, with no group able to feature more than one team from the same confederation with the exception of UEFA and clubs from the same member association cannot be paired together.
Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense
Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan,Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, FC Salzburg
Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan HD, Al Ahly, Wydad AC, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo
Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami
The revamped tournament runs from June 15 to July 13, 2025 across the United States.
There are 12 stadiums hosting games, from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta to Audi Field in Washington D.C.