If I told you that a 32-team tournament, played in world cup qualifying and knockout style, and featuring many of the best players in the world, were coming to the U.S. in two years, would you be surprised?
Traditionally, FIFA has staged a significant tournament in the world cup host country during the summer before the World Cup. It is meant to be a bit of a dry run to test out the venues, work out ticketing and transportation, and otherwise iron out any kinks to ensure that their marquee event comes off well the following year. For a few cycles, it was a tournament called the "Confederations Cup," in which one team from each of the world wide federations would advance and play a mini-tournament, with two groups and knockouts. Qualification was based on the winner of each confederation's championship in the off-cycle years. For CONCACAF, it was the gold cup. The U.S.A. played in a few, and even had one of their most famous wins in South Africa against Spain.
Anyway, Qatar fucked it all up. A summer tournament was not in the cards. And so the confederations cup went away, which was really too bad. I always looked forward to it. It was a neat little tournament that got you fired up for the world cup.
FIFA has now moved on to a club competition -- so instead of international teams playing, FIFA has created a championship for the best club teams in the world. Think Champions League, but not just for UEFA (although obviously, Europe clubs will feature heavily.) This has been an idea that has had some trouble getting off the ground, even though the tournament has bee played in various forms for many years. It's hard to get clubs to commit to taking a summer competition seriously, though now that many of the big clubs do all sorts of tours and other stuff in the summers, it is picking up a bit of steam. There is actually a 2023 club world cup -- it will be 8 clubs contested in Saudi Arabia in December, as what is no doubt a showcase designed to secure the 2030 world cup. Seven of the 8 teams have qualified -- only CONMEBOL has yet to complete their Copa Libertadores. Citeh, as the Champions League champs, will play for Europe. Al-Ittihad -- the Saudi club featuring Benzema -- will play for AFC. Leon is the CONCACAF representative.
2025, however, will be a much more elaborate affair. 32 clubs will qualify, and will play in a full pre-2026 world cup format. 8 groups of 4, round robin, 2 from each group advance, and then 15 knockout games. The number of slots is set based on confederation ranking. UEFA gets 12 teams, CONMEBOL gets 6, CONCACAF, CAF, and AFC get 4. OFC gets 1. And then the host gets 1. Qualification is based on who wins each confederation's club championship in the 4 years prior to the event, and then various ranking schemes if a team wins more than 1. For CONMEBOL and UEFA, the remaining slots are filled using various rankings. The Sounders are eligible, having won the 2022 CONCACAF champions league. The last three UEFA CL winners -- Chelsea, Real Madrid and City have qualified, as have the two Brazilian sides that have won the Copa Liberatores (Palmeiras and Flamengo).
You can keep up with qualification if interested on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_Club_World_Cup
I don't think it has been announced yet how the host spot for a USA team will be decided. Maybe the 2024 MLS champ? It's FIFA so if there's any opportunity to get Messi in there, I suppose they will try, which actually would be cool.
I am unreasonably excited about this tournament. I think tickets will be a little bit easier than the world cup. It's 39 games (or maybe 40 if there's a consolation game) in the U.S.A. at the stadiums that will be hosting the world cup the next year. If players take it seriously, we'll get to see some amazing teams. It will probably turn out to be a Europe and South America knockout, but there is going to be some excellent soccer played. I'm already thinking about how to manage my 2025 vacation time.
Here's the FIFA page. https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/fifa-club-world-cup-2025-dates-format-and-qualifiers
FIFA usually sells tickets by having a lottery before the draw is announced, so you're just buying tickets based on venue and date. And then after the draw and the schedule comes out, they have another sale. Not sure if this will work the same way. I don't think 80,000 tickets in Houston or whatever are going to be sold for Wydad and Al-Hilal, so tickets should be pretty easy to get. The big England sides though will probably sell out.
Traditionally, FIFA has staged a significant tournament in the world cup host country during the summer before the World Cup. It is meant to be a bit of a dry run to test out the venues, work out ticketing and transportation, and otherwise iron out any kinks to ensure that their marquee event comes off well the following year. For a few cycles, it was a tournament called the "Confederations Cup," in which one team from each of the world wide federations would advance and play a mini-tournament, with two groups and knockouts. Qualification was based on the winner of each confederation's championship in the off-cycle years. For CONCACAF, it was the gold cup. The U.S.A. played in a few, and even had one of their most famous wins in South Africa against Spain.
Anyway, Qatar fucked it all up. A summer tournament was not in the cards. And so the confederations cup went away, which was really too bad. I always looked forward to it. It was a neat little tournament that got you fired up for the world cup.
FIFA has now moved on to a club competition -- so instead of international teams playing, FIFA has created a championship for the best club teams in the world. Think Champions League, but not just for UEFA (although obviously, Europe clubs will feature heavily.) This has been an idea that has had some trouble getting off the ground, even though the tournament has bee played in various forms for many years. It's hard to get clubs to commit to taking a summer competition seriously, though now that many of the big clubs do all sorts of tours and other stuff in the summers, it is picking up a bit of steam. There is actually a 2023 club world cup -- it will be 8 clubs contested in Saudi Arabia in December, as what is no doubt a showcase designed to secure the 2030 world cup. Seven of the 8 teams have qualified -- only CONMEBOL has yet to complete their Copa Libertadores. Citeh, as the Champions League champs, will play for Europe. Al-Ittihad -- the Saudi club featuring Benzema -- will play for AFC. Leon is the CONCACAF representative.
2025, however, will be a much more elaborate affair. 32 clubs will qualify, and will play in a full pre-2026 world cup format. 8 groups of 4, round robin, 2 from each group advance, and then 15 knockout games. The number of slots is set based on confederation ranking. UEFA gets 12 teams, CONMEBOL gets 6, CONCACAF, CAF, and AFC get 4. OFC gets 1. And then the host gets 1. Qualification is based on who wins each confederation's club championship in the 4 years prior to the event, and then various ranking schemes if a team wins more than 1. For CONMEBOL and UEFA, the remaining slots are filled using various rankings. The Sounders are eligible, having won the 2022 CONCACAF champions league. The last three UEFA CL winners -- Chelsea, Real Madrid and City have qualified, as have the two Brazilian sides that have won the Copa Liberatores (Palmeiras and Flamengo).
You can keep up with qualification if interested on wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_Club_World_Cup
I don't think it has been announced yet how the host spot for a USA team will be decided. Maybe the 2024 MLS champ? It's FIFA so if there's any opportunity to get Messi in there, I suppose they will try, which actually would be cool.
I am unreasonably excited about this tournament. I think tickets will be a little bit easier than the world cup. It's 39 games (or maybe 40 if there's a consolation game) in the U.S.A. at the stadiums that will be hosting the world cup the next year. If players take it seriously, we'll get to see some amazing teams. It will probably turn out to be a Europe and South America knockout, but there is going to be some excellent soccer played. I'm already thinking about how to manage my 2025 vacation time.
Here's the FIFA page. https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/fifa-club-world-cup-2025-dates-format-and-qualifiers
FIFA usually sells tickets by having a lottery before the draw is announced, so you're just buying tickets based on venue and date. And then after the draw and the schedule comes out, they have another sale. Not sure if this will work the same way. I don't think 80,000 tickets in Houston or whatever are going to be sold for Wydad and Al-Hilal, so tickets should be pretty easy to get. The big England sides though will probably sell out.
