Category: Football, Sports

Club World Cup 2025: FIFA’s New 32-Team Tournament in the USA

Club World Cup 2025: FIFA's New 32-Team Tournament in the USA

FIFA has revealed the 12 stadiums that will host the expanded Club World Cup in the United States in 2025. The tournament, scheduled from June 15 to July 13, 2025, will be the first to feature 32 teams, marking a significant expansion from its previous format.

Matches will take place across multiple venues throughout the US, with the final set to be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, located just five miles from New York City. Other selected stadiums include:

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
TQL Stadium, Cincinnati
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
Geodis Park, Nashville
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
Camping World Stadium, Orlando
Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando
Rose Bowl Stadium, Los Angeles
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Lumen Field, Seattle
Audi Field, Washington DC

The expanded Club World Cup will see top European clubs, including Chelsea, Manchester City, and Real Madrid, automatically qualify as recent Champions League winners. Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto, and Benfica will also participate based on their co-efficient rankings. Six South American clubs, 12 teams from Asia, Africa, and North America, one club from Oceania, and a host nation representative from the US will complete the lineup for this expanded tournament.

Previously, the Club World Cup was held annually with a smaller format, involving six teams representing various global confederations. However, in 2025, FIFA aims to launch a new era for club football with a larger, more inclusive tournament. FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed his excitement, stating, “In 2025, a new era for club football will kick off when FIFA stages the greatest, most inclusive and merit-based global club competition right here in the United States.”

Expansion Draws Mixed Reactions

FIFA’s decision to expand the Club World Cup has faced criticism from clubs, players, and organizations. The decision comes on the heels of UEFA expanding the Champions League and Europa League group stages to add additional matches, which has already raised concerns about an increasingly congested fixture schedule.

Global players’ union Fifpro and the European Leagues body—representing 39 leagues and over 1,100 clubs in 33 countries—filed a joint complaint to the European Commission in July, protesting what they called FIFA’s “abuse of dominance” in the football world. In response, FIFA dismissed claims that Fifpro and the World Leagues Association were not consulted during the planning stages of the Club World Cup expansion.

The growing number of fixtures has added strain to players, with Manchester City midfielder Rodri warning that players may go on strike if schedules continue to get busier. Rodri, who is currently out for the rest of the season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, emphasized the risks of an overloaded schedule and the physical toll on players.

Despite these criticisms, the upcoming 2025 Club World Cup is set to mark a new chapter for global club football, offering an expanded stage for the world’s top teams to compete.