The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Draw has been made.
Newsone Nigeria reports that English Premier League side, Chelsea will come up against Esperance Sportive de Tunis in Group D in addition to Rio-based Flamengo and will open their Club World Cup campaign against Mexican side Club Leon.
On the other hand, English Premier League champions, Manchester City will face Italian giants, Juventus in Group G while, reigning UEFA Champions, Real Madrid square up against FC Salzburg of Austria, Al Hilal in Saudi and CF Pachuca of Mexico.
Chelsea and Manchester City qualified as 2021 and 2023 Champions League winners respectively, but were kept apart in the draw for the group stage as part of FIFA’s complicated regional constraints.
Should both English clubs progress to the knockout stages as group winners, they would go into opposite sides of the draw and would then not meet until the final.
Group A: Palmeiras (Brz), Porto (Por), Al Ahly (Egy), Inter Miami (USA)
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain (Fra), Atletico Madrid (Esp), Botafogo (Brz), Seattle Sounders (USA)
Group C: Bayern Munich (Ger), Benfica (Por), Boca Juniors (Arg), Auckland City (Nzl)
Group D: Flamengo (Brz), Chelsea (Eng), Club Leon (Mex), Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tun)
Group E: River Plate (Arg), Inter Milan (Ita), CF Monterrey (Mex), Urawa Red Diamonds (Jpn)
Group F: Fluminense (Brz), Borussia Dortmund (Ger), Ulsan HD (Kor), Mamelodi Sundowns (Rsa)
Group G: Man City (Eng), Juventus (Ita), Wydad AC (Mor), Al Ain (UAE)
Group H: Real Madrid (Esp), FC Salzburg (Aut), Al Hilal (Rsa), CF Pachuca (Mex).
The draw for next year’s tournament took place in Miami and was conducted by Juventus and Italy legend Alessandro Del Piero.
The innovative new FIFA Club World Cup Trophy, designed by FIFA and crafted in collaboration with global luxury jeweller Tiffany & Co, was unveiled for the first time by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and former Brazil striker Ronaldo ahead of the draw.
Meanwhile, Newsone reports that the new 32-team FIFA Club World Cup 2025, to be hosted in the United States next summer, has been championed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino – but is the subject of two legal challenges in Europe, which both involve players’ union FIFPRO.