FIFA Club World Cup
Club World Cup
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It is day two at the 2025 Club World Cup and it all kicks off with Bayern Munich facing Auckland City in Cincinnati.
The Group C clash pits one of the true heavyweights of the tournament against the smallest club, with nothing but a convincing win expected for the Germans.
Bayern harbour genuine ambitions of going all the way in this revamped competition and will want to set their stall out in today's game. A draw or win for Auckland would be one of the great shock results.
You can sign up to DAZN to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game for free.
Let’s take you through all eight groups of this revamped Club World Cup, where the top two will progress into the knockout stage and the bottom two will go home.
The groups are in pairs — meaning the winner of Group A will play the runner-up in Group B come the Round of 16. Likewise the winner of Group B will play Group A’s runner-up.
If the standings are tied on points, it will come down to head to head records rather than goal difference.
Here are groups A and B…
Group A
Group B
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On the big screen at the Hard Rock Stadium, the concentric circles of the Club World Cup spun like the rings of a new planet. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the master of this universe, called it a “big bang moment in the history of football,” and it was finally here. Would his new competition explode into life or flame out?
Hours before kick-off, Infantino was already in the ground observing the final preparations for the inaugural game between Al Ahly and Inter Miami. He had ended his cringey call with ’90s pop stars Robbie Williams and Laura Pausini on the balcony of his South Beach hotel, in which ‘Desire’ was announced as the new official FIFA song. On Williams’ T-shirt was the slogan ‘hopeium’. It sounded like a hallucinogen capable of blocking out the negativity caused by reports of thousands of unsold tickets.
If this really was “a new era for soccer”, as Infantino claimed, it seemed, at least initially, that not many people wanted to be there for it — put off by earlier aggressive ticket pricing and, perhaps, the signalled presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Hard Rock. Some club executives of participating teams were disappointed by the lack of promotional material in cities and airports. Locals seemed confused by the concept. Isn’t the World Cup next summer? How is this different?
Read more below
The 2025 Club World Cup didn't give us any goals on opening night, but it gave us some pretty good entertainment.
Inter Miami met Egyptian champions Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium and, for the entirety of the first half, it looked like the MLS representative might be embarrassed on the global stage. But Oscar Ustari saved a 43rd-minute penalty and it sparked his side into life.
In the end, Miami left the pitch frustrated with a goalless draw as, led by Lionel Messi, they enjoyed a host of decent late chances. Unfortunately for them, they found Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy in inspired form, with his last-minute fingertip save to deny Messi a world-class winner proving to be the highlight.
GO FURTHER
Al Ahly 0, Inter Miami 0 – Messi comes close as 60,000 take in lively Club World Cup opener
Get used to being able to enjoy a handful of matches every day for this opening fortnight of the tournament.
After today's quartet of games is out of the way, here is how tomorrow shapes up.
3pm ET
6pm ET
9pm ET
A super busy day is in store across the United States today for the Club World Cup.
We start here in Cincinnati, go from coast to coast between Los Angeles and New Jersey before finishing Sunday in Seattle — here are the fixtures (all times in ET):
12pm ET
3pm ET
6pm ET
10pm ET
These tournaments are all about the shared experience — and we would love to hear from you throughout this Club World Cup.
Be it a comment, observation, prediction, question you always wanted an answer to or something completely different, we welcome it all.
Email us at live@theathletic.com and have your say. We’re already looking forward to reading what you’ve got for us.
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TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
TQL Stadium, home to MLS side FC Cincinnati, might be my favorite soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. On a chilly night and with a packed crowd, it has a true European feel. When the U.S. hosted Mexico for a pivotal 2022 World Cup qualifier in November 2021, the energy was palpable. The stadium was brand new, but there was a rustic feel to it as thousands of fans sang and marched throughout the concourse.
The U.S. won that game 2-0 and established Cincinnati as a viable home for the U.S. national team. It’s early in the stadium’s history, but it should continue to be an option for international and club competitions. There are strong German roots in the city, which should bode well for support for Bayern Munich and their Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.
If you’re a soccer fan — and you love a plethora of other sports too — there is no better place to follow all your favourite teams, leagues and players than with The Athletic.
From the UK, we’ve got you covered ahead of the expanded Club World Cup and on into the build-up to next summer’s World Cup.
Then in the U.S. the NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final and MLB season are all in full flow, with golf’s U.S. Open concluding at Oakmont later today.
And that’s without mentioning F1’s Canadian Grand Prix and tennis’ Wimbledon Championships to come.
We have the lot covered and much more besides, so make sure you’re fully informed with access to our full experience.
And you’re in luck — you can subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer right here.
All matches at the Club World Cup will be available on DAZN, so that is where this evening's game will be shown in the United States and anywhere else that has access to DAZN.
Broadcasting to a selection of the matches has been licensed out to other broadcasters. In the UK, free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 are showing Bayern Munich vs Auckland City.
It's an early start to proceedings on this Club World Cup Sunday.
This match kicks off right in the middle of the day; 12pm (ET) on the east coast and 9am (PT) on the west.
And that means it is in the primetime 5pm (BST) slot in the UK.
Good morning! And welcome along to The Athletic where the Club World Cup continues into its second day after its entertaining opening night.
And there is a busy day of tournament football on the way with four matches taking place.
Up first is a real David vs Goliath story as Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich face comfortably the smallest team in the competition, Auckland City.
Any chance of a shock feels very unlikely but you never know! And there is no better place to follow it than right here on The Athletic, so don't go anywhere!