Everything you need to know about the Club World Cup draw

The 2025 Club World Cup draw will take place on Thursday 5 December, and 32 teams will learn their fate ahead of next summer’s new-look tournament.

Two of those English teams involved are Manchester City and Chelsea.

The tournament will be made up of 63 matches played across the United States, featuring a revamped format and more teams than ever to determine the best club side of the last four years.

Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament.

When is the Club World Cup draw?

The Club World Cup draw will take place on Thursday, December 5 at 6pm UK time.

It will be broadcast for free across FIFA channels, including the FIFA website and their app, FIFA+.

How does the draw work?

As with any draw, teams will be separated into four pots.

Pot one will include the highest-rated teams from Europe and South America, while pot two will include the rest of Europe.

Pot three will hold Asian, African, Concacaf and other South American teams, and pot four will hold all remaining clubs.

There is more to the draw, though. Teams from the same confederation cannot be drawn together, though an exception will be made for UEFA given their 12 clubs cannot be separated between eight groups. Teams from the same country also cannot be drawn together.

Two clubs have already been given their groups: Inter Miami are in Group A as they will play the tournament’s first match, and Seattle Sounders will be in Group B so as to play at their home stadium.

What pot is my club in for the Club World Cup draw?

Pot 1: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Fluminese, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate

Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Porto, Juventus, RB Salzburg

Pot 3: Botafogo, Boca Juniors, Leon, Monterrey, Wydad AC, Al Ahly, Ulsan HD, Al Hilal

Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami

When is the Club World Cup?

The tournament’s opening match will take place on June 15, 2025, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

As the host team, Inter Miami will play in the opening match.

The Club World Cup is also set to take place every four years.

What is the Club World Cup format?

The format will be the same as the World Cup, with 32 teams divided into eight groups of four.

Each team will play every other team in their group once, with the top two teams in the group progressing to a knockout competition, where matches will be decided by extra time and penalties should they end in a draw.

What teams have qualified for the tournament, and how?

All 32 teams have now been confirmed and will have qualified one of two ways: winning a continental tournament such as the Champions League, or by being a consistently high-performing club over the past four years.

Similar to World Cup qualification allocations, each FIFA confederation is assigned a certain amount of spots at the tournament.

UEFA (Europe) was allotted 12 teams, and CONMEBOL (South America) was allotted six. Concacaf (North, Central America, Caribbean), Asia, and Africa were assigned four spots each, and Oceania was assigned one.

Here are all the teams heading Stateside next summer, and how they qualified:

• Chelsea, ENG, Champions League Winners 2020-21

• Real Madrid, ESP, Champions League Winners 2021-22

• Manchester City, ENG, Champions League Winners 2022-23

• Bayern Munich, GER, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Paris Saint-Germain, FRA, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Inter Milan, ITA, UEFA 4-year ranking

• FC Porto, POR, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Benfica, POR, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Borussia Dortmund, GER, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Juventus, ITA, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Atletico Madrid, ESP, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Red Bull Salzburg, AUT, UEFA 4-year ranking

• Palmeiras, BRA, CONMEBOL Libertadores win 2021

• Flamengo, BRA, CONMEBOL Libertadores win 2022

• Fluminese, BRA, CONMEBOL Libertadores win 2023

• Botafogo, BRA, CONMEBOL Libertadores win 2024

• River Plate, ARG, CONMEBOL 4-year ranking

• Boca Juniors, ARG, CONMEBOL 4-year ranking

• Monterrey, MEX, CONCACAF Champions League win 2021

• Seattle Sounders, USA, CONCACAF Champions League win 2022

• Leon, MEX, CONCACAF Champions League win 2023

• Pachuca, MEX, CONCACAF Champions League win 2024

• Al Hilal, SAU, AFC Champions League win 2021

• Urawa Red Diamonds, JAP, AFC Champions League win 2022

• Al Ain, UAE, AFC Champions League win 2023-24

• Ulsan HD, KOR, AFC 4-year ranking

• Al Ahly, EGY, CAF Champions League win 2020-21

• Wydad AC, MOR, CAF Champions League win 2021-22

• Esperance de Tunis, TUN, CAF 4-year ranking

• Mamelodi Sundowns, RSA, CAF 4-year ranking

• Auckland City, AUS, OFC 4-year ranking

Where can I watch the Club World Cup?

FIFA have signed a deal with DAZN to broadcast the Club World Cup in its entirety. All 63 matches will be made available globally on a free-to-air basis.

DAZN currently hold the rights to the Women’s Champions League, also live streaming a range of other sports including the NFL and boxing, streaming live online behind a paywall.

Where will Club World Cup matches be played?

Only two matches have confirmed venues as of yet. The opening ceremony will take place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, while the final will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of the New York Jets.

Other stadiums are dotted across the US. On the East Coast, matches will also be held at Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, and Audi Field in Washington DC.

On the West Coast, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Lumen Field in Seattle will both host matches.

Between the coasts, there will be matches held at Geodis Park, Nashville, and TQL Stadium, Cincinnati.

What happened to the old Club World Cup?

Die-hard fans of the former Club World Cup need not worry – it has simply been rebranded and is now known as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

Made up of seven continental champions from around the world, and will continue to be held every winter, crowning a new ‘world champion’.

Why is the Club World Cup controversial?

The conversation surrounding player fatigue and fixture congestion has only grown louder in recent years, and the creation of a new, month-long summer tournament has reignited it.

At the start of the 2024/25 season, players threatened to strike in protest of constantly growing seasons. Manchester City’s Rodri emerged as a leader of the movement after he played 63 matches in 2023/24, later suffering an ACL injury believed to be related to the load.

The Club World Cup will simply extend players’ club seasons, with many clubs now facing close to a full year of competitive play.

With the Club World Cup starting on June 15, players in European leagues could face as little as two weeks of rest ahead of the tournament after their domestic seasons end.

The tournament’s end on July 13 will be barely a month before the next 2025/26 Premier League season with international play in between, adding further fuel to the fixture congestion debate.