The draw for the newly revamped and expanded Club World Cup will take place this week ahead of next year’s competition.
The 2025 edition of FIFA’s prestigious club competition has been remodeled to include even more fixtures to a congested footballing calendar.
This year’s tournament will consist of 32 teams a stark contrast compared to the old format which only included seven teams from the six FIFA confederations.
As a result of the expanded pot of teams, instead of seven games being played across 11 days, the event will see 63 fixtures crammed into 28 days.
Next year’s competition will be held in the USA but before that, the draw must take place and it is just around the corner.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2025 Club World Cup draw including date, start time, where to watch and new procedures ahead of new format.
The draw for the newly revamped and expanded Club World Cup will take place this week ahead of next year’s competition.
This year’s tournament will consist of 32 teams a stark contrast compared to the old format which only included seven teams from the six FIFA confederations
When is the Club World Cup draw?
The draw for the 2025 edition of the Club World Cup will take place on Thursday December 5.
It will be held in Miami and is set to get underway around 1pm local time (6pm UK time).
Where to watch?
This year’s draw will be available to watch on a livestream via FIFA.com FIFA+ and supporting channels.
How many teams will play at the Club World Cup
As mentioned, 32 teams will take part in the 2025 edition of the competition.
That includes two Premier League sides, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Other high-profile teams who will also have their name in the pot for the draw are Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Inter Miami.
As reported by Sky Sports, clubs will have to take their strongest squads to the tournament and field their strongest teams.
Despite the compact and hectic schedule faced by players this season, FIFA will not allow any stars to miss the tournament unless it is through injury, even though the competition is being held during the off season.
Defending champions Manchester City will be one of the 32 clubs taking part in the USA
Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea are the only other Premier League side involved in the tournament
How the draw will work?
The 32 teams which have qualified for the revamped Club World Cup will be split into four pots consisting of eight teams each.
To ensure competitive balance and geographical diversity FIFA have used the respective confederation rankings that were used as part of the qualification process to determine which pot each team is placed in.
Pot 1 will feature the four highest-ranked clubs from Europe as well as the four top-ranked teams from South America.
Pot 2 will consist of the eight remaining teams from Europe, which includes Chelsea and Inter Milan.
Pot 3 is going to be made up of the two highest-ranked squads from Asia, Africa and the North, Central America and Caribbean region, as well as the two last South American teams.
Lastly Pot 4 will include the last two teams from Asia, Africa, and the North, Central America and Caribbean region.
As well as Oceania’s representative and the team which was chosen to by the host country which is Inter Miami CF.
Pot 1 will feature the four highest-ranked clubs from Europe as well as the four top-ranked teams from South America including Man City, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich
Pot 2 will consist of the eight remaining teams from Europe, which includes Chelsea and Inter Milan
Draw Rules
FIFA have implemented several rules to ensure there is fairness and variety in each group.
The first constraint FIFA will be adding to the draw is that no group can include more than one team from the same confederation. This will be implemented to all confederations except UEFA (Europe) since they have 12 teams present at the tournament.
So that means four out of the eight groups will include two European sides.
Another rule which will be in effect this year sees that clubs from the same member association will not be put together in a group.
Further more, all teams from Pot 1 will be allocated the first position of the group they are drawn in.
Due to scheduling, both the two teams representing the USA will be placed into fourth position in Group A and B.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami will play in the opening match of the tournament hosted at the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins and Seattle Sounders FC will begin their tournament at Lumen Field in Seattle.
Other constraints will dictate that clubs from the same member association cannot be grouped together and all clubs from pot 1 will be allocated to the first position of the group into which they are drawn.
The rest of the fixture schedule will be finalised and released once the drawn has been conducted.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami will play in the opening match of the tournament
The opening game will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins
When is the 2025 Club World Cup?
The next edition of the Club World Cup will take place in 2025 from Sunday, June 15 until Sunday, July 13.
United States will host the tournament, with the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami staging the opener, whilst the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the final.
