FIFA selects U.S. as host of 2025 Club World Cup
The FIFA Council unanimously decided to give the hosting rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup to the U.S. on Friday.
The tournament will take place in June and July of 2025. It will be the first time that the Club World Cup will have 32 participants.
The FIFA Council decided to award the tournament to the U.S. due to its existing infrastructure and service capabilities. The U.S. has proven it can host large-scale soccer tournaments in the past and is scheduled to host more in the future, which made FIFA confident that the Club World Cup will be a success in the U.S.
FIFA Council appoints United States as host of new and expanded FIFA Club World Cup
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) June 23, 2023
️ https://t.co/nIZl1XwXmd pic.twitter.com/H4zrdsbqu7
The tournament also offers the opportunity to maximize synergies between the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The Club World Cup will serve as an appetizer of sorts, offering fans a glimpse of what the 2026 World Cup will be like. It can also serve as a test event for the venues that will be hosting the World Cup the following year.
“The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be the pinnacle of elite professional men’s club football, and with the required infrastructure in place together with a massive local interest, the United States is the ideal host to kick off this new, global tournament,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “With some of the world’s top clubs already qualified, fans from every continent will be bringing their passion and energy to the United States in two years’ time for this significant milestone in our mission to make football truly global.”
Format
The move to 32 teams is a massive expansion from the current format of just seven teams.
The current format has been happening every year in December. The winner of each continental club competition and the winner of the host nation’s league are the teams who qualify for the tournament. The teams then play in a knockout-only format to determine the winner. The 2023 Club World Cup in December will be the last time this format is used.
Now, more teams will participate in the Club World Cup, which will only happen every four years. UEFA will have the most spots with 12, determined by Champions League winners and the UEFA four-year ranking. CONMEBOL will have the second most with 6 spots, determined by Copa Libertadores winners and the CONMEBOL 4-year ranking.
AFC, CAF and CONCACAF will all have four spots, while OFC will have only one. The U.S. will have the final spot in the tournament as the host nation. Although it has yet to be determined which team will get this spot, it could likely be the winner of the 2024 MLS Playoffs.
The proposed format is that the 32 teams that qualify will be split into eight groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group will then advance to the Round of 16, and the tournament will proceed in a knockout format from that point.
Qualified Teams
So far, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City headline the teams to have already qualified. The three teams have won the last three UEFA Champions League titles.
Palmeiras and Flamengo have qualified from CONMEBOL for winning the Copa Libertadores. León, Seattle Sounders and Monterrey have qualified from CONCACAF. Al-Hilal, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ahly and Wydad Casablanca are the other teams to have booked their ticket.
The remaining spots will be determined by continental club competitions during the next few years.
Busy Summers Ahead for the U.S.
The 2025 Club World Cup adds another tournament to the U.S.’s busy soccer schedule in the next few years.
It starts with the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer. Then, next summer, the Copa América will return to the U.S. It was previously held here in 2016 and may serve as Lionel Messi‘s final tournament with Argentina.
Then, the FIFA Club World Cup will arrive in 2025. This is followed the next year by the FIFA World Cup which will be jointly hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The U.S. is then looking at joint-hosting the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup with Mexico in 2027. The host for this tournament has yet to be decided, but the U.S. – Mexico bid looks solid.
And last but not least, the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. This will include the Olympic soccer tournament that will be held in various venues around California.
These are exciting times to be a soccer fan in the U.S. The next few summers will see the brightest stars from the soccer world coming to our backyard to play in the world’s biggest competitions.
Be sure to start saving your money. There is going to be plenty of soccer coming to the U.S. in the next few years that you are not going to want to miss.
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