The 32 teams that will take part in the 2025 Club World Cup are coming together. With the conclusion of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, the 12 European quota spots have been confirmed.
All is set for a revised edition to be held in the United States in 2025. According to UEFA, the revised edition brings together the 32 teams with the best results over the past four years. Next year's Club World Cup will be held from June 15th to July 13th.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino came up with the idea for the organization's newest and most prominent member. However, many of Europe's top soccer teams will not be participating in the latest Club World Cup. In 2025, a record 32 teams will compete in the competition. Despite this new expansion, many of the game's biggest names were unable to compete.
Who will miss the 2025 Club World Cup?
Along with Manchester United, Liverpool and AC Milan, Barcelona will not feature following Tuesday's 4-1 home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. As a result, they lost 6-4 on aggregate and were eliminated from the Champions League quarter-finals.
Arsenal, who lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, will also not be participating. Atletico Madrid will replace Barcelona. Both teams lost in the Champions League. However, due to their better coefficient position than the Blaugrana, Atleti became the 22nd team to qualify.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who is 40 years old and currently plays for Al Nasr in Saudi Arabia, will also not be participating. It is unclear whether Lionel Messi and his Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami, will appear.
Participants in next summer's tournament
Of the 32 teams, 6 teams will represent CONMEBOL (South America), 4 teams will represent AFC (Asia), and 2 teams each will compete from CAF (Africa) and CONCACAF (North, Central America and the Caribbean). One representative from OFC (Oceania) and one representative from the host country (next year, the United States) will participate.
In this edition of the UEFA Champions League, the three teams that recently won the European title (Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Chelsea) will automatically qualify. Atletico, Bayern, PSG, Inter, Porto, Dortmund, Benfica, Juventus and Salzburg will also be participating. These are all based on the 4-year UEFA coefficient rankings.
They can qualify by winning the federation's major club competitions from 2021 to 2024. or ultimately finish within the top 10 in the club rankings for that tournament during that period.
Additionally, Brazil's Palmeiras, Flamengo and Fluminense, as well as Mexico's Club Leon and Monterrey, have already secured spots. Also on the list are the Seattle Sounders (USA), Egypt's Al Ahly, Morocco's Wydad Casablanca, Urawa Reds (Japan), Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and New Zealand's Auckland City.
Each team will compete in one of eight four-team groups. The format is the same as the World Cup and European Championship. Three matches will be played each, followed by a single-leg knockout round to determine the winner.
Photo: Imago