November 12 – FIFA will draw the groups for its expanded 32-team Club World Cup in Miami on December 5.
Still insisting that the competition will feature “the world’s best clubs”, 31 of the clubs are already qualified with either Brazil’s Atlético Mineiro or Botafogo to join them, depending on which team wins the Copa Libertadores final on November 30.
Information is still thin on the tournament operations and on the draw seedings for a tournament that has still to capture the imagination of sponsors and broadcasters, and following the inclusion of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami as a commercially driven wild card, rather than a performance achieving qualification.
By the time next June comes round and the tournament kicks off the question will be how much fatigue factor there will be around the Messi hype, and whether he is fit enough to compete. He may have brought a step-change to the MLS’s profile and commercial proposition but will his brilliance do the same for the FIFA’s flailing club competition?
What is known is that Inter Miami will open the tournament in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, 15 June 2025. Seattle Sounders will play all their games at the 68,740-capacity Lumen Field in Seattle.
FIFA has said the tournament will be played at 12 stadium, mainly on the East Coast with Lumen Field and a trip to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the outliers. Concacaf will be playing its Gold Cup on the same dates, mainly on the West Coast.
The draw will be conducted as a live studio event and broadcast on FIFA.com and its streaming platform FIFA+.
FIFA, describing this edition of the Club World Cup as “the greatest, most inclusive and merit based global club competition in history” (pinch yourself), said draw details and procedures will be published on the FIFA hub shortly.
Fans can register for tickets though.
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