FIFA Announces Schedule for 2025 Club World Cup in U.S.

The first edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States will be staged from June 15 to July 13, 2025, with 32 teams from around the world competing the year before the FIFA Men’s World Cup comes to North America.

FIFA said the 32-team tournament would be “harmoniously aligned with the International Match Calendar” to ensure there would be enough of a gap between the final and the start of domestic leagues. The last edition of the Club World Cup in its current format is currently being held in Saudi Arabia with UEFA Champions League winner Manchester City is aiming to win the trophy for the first time.

The tournament will have a group stage of eight groups with four teams per group, the top two progressing to the Round of 16 with a single-match knockout stage throughout the elimination rounds until the final. Europe will have the most club sides involved with 12 participating, while South America will have six, Concacaf will have four along with Africa and Asia and Oceania will have one team participate.

Among those who have already qualified through FIFA’s pathway include the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer plus Liga MX’s Monterrey and Club León. Eight clubs from Europe have already qualified; Chelsea and Manchester City from England, Porto and Benfica from Portugal, France’s Paris Saint-Germain, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Spain’s Real Madrid and Italy’s Inter Milan.

“The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be a major milestone in providing clubs from all confederations with a fitting stage on which to shine at the highest level of the game,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “This will be an open competition based on sporting merit that will play a key role as part of our efforts to make football truly global.”

The Club World Cup will be one summer before the FIFA World Cup comes to North America and the year after an expanded Copa America is held in the United States. The Concacaf Gold Cup in 2025 will overlap the Club World Cup from June 14 through July 6 as well in the U.S.

FIFA will also start an annual tournament called the Intercontinental Cup, matching the UEFA Champions League winner against a team that comes through intercontinental playoffs. The initial stage will have champions league winners from the continents of Africa, Asia and Oceania playing against each other for the right to meet the winner of a home-and-home series between champions league winners from Concacaf and the CONMEBOL Libertadores. The winners of both previous stages will play each other in the days before the final on December 14, 2024, at the same neutral venue hosting the final on December 18, 2024. That location has not been determined.

FIFA also decided that Chile will host the Under-20 World Cup in 2025 and Poland will host the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in 2026.